Iron Maiden and Dowser Knight
by Sheo Darren
Summary: Finished as of May 28, 2004. Sadness and happiness mingle as the X-Laws bring home Jeanne at last- and meet a totally unexpected person! Meanwhile, Rione meets the mysterious man from her past, the man named Kite... Please R&R!
1. Enter the Romancers in Shaman King!

**The Romancers**

**Set One**

**By: Sheo Darren**

_THE ROMANCERS_

We are the Romancers.

Those that lurk behind the veneer of life

Always on the lookout for love in all places

To mend heartaches and bring harmony in strife

(Rhyme, rhyme, always rhymes...)

We are the Romancers.

Never shall we be kept at bay

Determined to see our goals in fruition

And damned be anything in our way

(Politely, of course)

We are the Romancers.

Our duty is to life; we can never take it away

For life is there in magnitude with true love

And our job is to bring love to hearts gone astray

(Beat that, _Message in a Bottle...)_

We are the Romancers.

Our vow is never by forcible due

Or threat of death and despair

To make people say "I love you"

(Honestly, that last rhyme was lame)

We are the Romancers.

The Romancers are we

We are only human

But we can dream, can't we?

We are all forever Romancers.

In bright splendor love will live

In the gardens we have sown

That is what we truly believe

Amen.

It is ridiculous to even consider thinking that there is a group called "The Romancers" who would waste their time and that of other people by pairing all sorts of people together. This disclaimer laughs at the sheer absurdity of such idealistic fools who do not reflect on the practicality and world-centered way life runs today; those who think the feeling of romantic love is an emotion worth cherishing and fighting for. The entire idea is asinine and ridiculous.

            Love is just not worth our time.

_The poster on which the previous two paragraphs are written upon is but tatters on the ground. In its place stands heraldry with the mark of a heart wrapped in lace laden with satin._

_There is one simple short message written on the heraldry._

"Tee hee."

**Sheo's Thoughts:**

Wow. I wrote all that in just a total of one hour. Impressive!

            This is the start of what I am planning to call "The Romancers" series. "The Romancers" is my own personal idea inspired by a French writer who wrote a story of the same title (so don't you even think of copying my ideas, or I'll do an Alucard from _hellsing and hunt you all down. ^_^)._

Basically, the stories revolve around a semi-secret organization called The Romancers that aims to promote romance and love by bringing together couples who seem hesitant to admit they like each other, are totally hostile to each other, or any such thing that keeps them apart. The agents dispatched by The Romancers are all my original characters with a hefty dose of humorous rip-offs.

**Necessary Spoilers: The "targets" for Set One of "The Romancers" –the Shaman King arc– would be reservedly lovely Iron Maiden Jeanne and moody but charming X-Laws member Lyserg Diethyl. It takes place about half a year or so after the end of Shaman King. The X-Laws team is still here, but because of the casualties from the last battle –everyone died except for Marco, Jeanne and Lyserg– the members are all new recruits (and original characters of mine own, too). The Romancers' agent in place... well, just be warned: Massive Matrix rip-off!**

See you in **Chapter One: To Turn Over A New Leaf!**


	2. One: To Turn Over A New Leaf

**Real Disclaimer:**

Please be informed that I do not own Shaman King or any anime, movie or television series I'm going to rip off. But that's not stopping me from ripping them off. _Ole!_

**The Romancers**

**Set One**

**By: Sheo Darren**

**Arc 1: Shaman King**

**Iron Maiden and Dowser Knight**

**Chapter One**

**To Turn Over A New Leaf**

**Location:** Somewhere in Tokyo, Japan

**Dimensional Setting:** Shaman King

**Agent On-Theater:** Rione Asuka Hunter

The girl was amused.

She had been watching them for some time now, the small group of people she was observing from her precarious perch on top of a tree. An apple was in her hand; she had been nibbling at it while waiting for the conclusion to the scene she witnessed.

The first thing that could be said about her was that the girl liked the color black. Her trousers, her blouse, her coat and her Police sunglasses all were the same shade as her dark hair and obsidian eyes. She was elegant in black, totally at home and in control.

The apple sailed into the air for a moment, passing slickly short locks of black with a hint of blue highlights. It was caught in a small but supple hand, and then milky white teeth daintily bit into the remaining unmarred red skin, extracting a small bit of the flesh that was chewed and swallowed in a quietly cute way.

As already said before, she was amused. The ceremony had gone on schedule, just as she had predicted. Were there no surprises to be had this morning?

Her name was Rione Asuka Hunter, and she had a mission for today.

The girl smiled to herself so mysteriously.

"It's show time: Romancers."

Lyserg Diethyl was nervous.

This was the day, the most important date in his life. Well, actually, maybe it was just the second most important date of his life. He had another one in mind to receive the award "For being the most important day in the life of a young orphaned dowser who seeks revenge for his family and is a current member of the paramilitary shaman team X-Laws".

The most important clue to the identity of that day was faintly evident in the long sky-grey tresses of a girl who in the past kept to herself inside an iron casket that inflicted unbelievable pain upon her frail body. Evidences supporting that hypothesis could be stated as follows: Blushing, hesitancy of speech, awkwardness and a general sense of careless forgetfulness with slips of tongue on the part of the green-haired Brit lad when faced with this pretty and lovely young Frenchwoman.

To state it simply, Lyserg was in love with Iron Maiden Jeanne.

We get ahead of ourselves, though.

Today was an important day, not just for Lyserg but for the entire X-Laws. You see, today was when Marco –the team leader of the X-Laws for much of its existence– was going to step down and 'retire'. In his place would enter Lyserg Diethyl, chosen by Jeanne to be the new team captain. A rather good and obvious –if suspiciously biased– choice, we may say.

Marco did not protest much when Jeanne cornered him one day and told him about her decision. The man may have his faults, but he is extremely loyal and devoted to the Iron Maiden. He understood that the times were changing, and the new era called for –no, _demanded a new mission-vision, face and strong right arm to the X-Laws._

It was time to turn over a new leaf in the eternal book of histories...

With the defeat of Asakura Hao and relative peace overwhelming the world, the X-Laws were out of jobs. They had been the implacable enemies of the renegade Shaman, ready to fight him at his every step, willing to die in order to accomplish their mission. Although it was Asakura Yoh who really defeated Hao, the X-Laws also played a vital part in that final battle. Iron Maiden Jeanne had helped strengthen Yoh's power through her interceding prayers while Lyserg and Marco had battled Hao's seemingly unstoppable Spirit of Flame.

Because Hao was immensely powerful and brutal, the X-Laws had suffered grievous casualties. Only Lyserg, Marco and Jeanne survived the fated ending, Lyserg himself up to now sometimes unable to believe he had been through that nightmare. He was thankful that Jeanne also survived, though; that was perhaps all that was left that mattered to him.

In their fierce war, the X-Laws had been almost as merciless as Hao had been. It was simply that Hao's minions were almost heartless and cruel as their master, and to match such pitiless enemies, the X-Laws needed to fight fire with fire. Many of Hao's lesser followers had met their end at the armament of the X-Laws and their Angel protectors. There was one notable exception, but as once said, the exception proves the rule. To all those others who had chosen to follow the evil Shaman, death was the only reward.

The war was over now, though. Peace had broken out. Even Hao himself would admit that, if one troubled to search for him and put that question up for answers (and what a courageously persistent journalist who would really go looking for him). It was the new reality for the X-Laws, one they had fought for all their lives but were not ready to follow themselves.

Without any discernible menace to combat, the X-Laws were like the samurai of old during the Meiji Restoration: With only a few reasons to live.

Iron Maiden Jeanne was still there, of course, the inspiring figure that was to be protected and served. The reputation of the leader of the X-Laws was such that she still drew people to her orbits, culling the few special persons out from the mass of humanity and calling them her own.

Yet for all that Jeanne accomplished for the X-Laws, the time when fighting and violence and Power Spirits served as tools was over. Hao was no threat, and his minions were scattered and without power.

Now the X-Laws were peacekeepers, figurative tenders and watchers of a rose come newly to bloom. It was a new mission they faced, and one that Marco was not suited for. It was plain the quietly ruthless Marco was out of his league here. His ways and thinking no longer fit in with the world they walked within. A new leader was called for, a person who understood the new era that was theirs to shelter.

It was so that Jeanne chose Lyserg Diethyl.

Sometimes, though, Lyserg confided to Jeanne that he wished she hadn't chosen him!

**Sheo's Thoughts: ** This chapter is even shorter than my Rayearth stories. Speaking of which, I should tend to Hikaru-_chan and Nova-_chan_ ASAP. Sorry, those guys who read my Rayearth stories! I'll start working on it again soon, when my exams are over!_

I guess I'll start here short, but I assume my chapters will start getting longer at one point. The reason why I kept this short is because I'm enjoying myself in the story. Here, I'm not out for technical excellence, unlike in my Reminiscent Memories fan fiction also published here.

So, after keeping your attention spans in consideration when I wrote this, please hear me: PLEASE REVIEW! Flames will be considered for any potential positive output. I hunger for your opinions and comments!

Please wait a short while; Chapter 2 is coming soon.


	3. Two: And You May Now Kiss The Bride

**Disclaimer: **You know the routine. Shaman King is not mine. Please don't sue me. Or I'll do a Tao Ren on you and hunt you down...

...Because this summer, your ass will meet my foot.

I will whoop your ass.

(Hello, JSF. Can I borrow some quotes from _Shaman King Movie Previews? Promise I'll review you favorably. Tee hee. ^_^)_

**Previously, on "The Romancers"...**

A mysterious girl in black (why does this sound so familiar?), a brief introduction to the character of Lyserg Diethyl, a recap of the story of the X-Laws in the Shaman King series, and a promise of a new era unfolding: The page of the eternal book of histories has been turned, and now a new adventure beckons...

**The Romancers**

**Set One**

**By: Sheo Darren**

**Chapter Two**

**And You May Now Kiss The Bride...**

Lyserg Diethyl was quite nervous now. This was the decisive moment: The ceremony where he would be ordained as the new leader of the X-Laws team.

It was a simple rite. Facing Jeanne –who had long ago disposed of her Iron Maiden and in Lyserg's thinking looked much nicer without it anyway– Marco formally declared that he was stepping down from the leadership of the X-Laws. The bespectacled man was actually shaking; this was an emotional moment for him, and one that would not be denied.

"…So I call upon he who I deem worthy to succeed to my calling. Lyserg Diethyl, come forth!"

Fighting to keep his anxiety in check, Lyserg forced himself to calmly walk towards Jeanne and Marco. The trusting smile Jeanne offered him helped a lot; he found himself smiling back. _Heck, even Marco looks content enough. Why can't I do the same?_

At the side, the reconstituted X-Laws watched intently. Redhead Victoria Ganger –nicknamed Vincent, for a reason the American ex-mercenary wasn't very interested in sharing– was suppressing a snicker; it would not do to have the edgy Marco to jump her for spoiling the moment. Cradled in her left arm was a nasty-looking sniper rifle, the weapon that summoned her Angel protector: Israfel, the Angel of Twins.

Next to her was Drake Malloy. The biggest member in the team, he also had the biggest gun that suited him just fine: A monster anti-tank bazooka. He was a cheerful man with a cheerful countenance, and he was happy right now. Drake was one of Lyserg's allies. His Angel protector was Ramiel, the mighty Angel of Thunder.

The mysterious person known only as the Maestro could not be described at all, as his face was hidden by an opaque bubble visor. He was in fact totally enclosed inside a combination of armor and life support systems, unable to survive even for a minute outside of his protective environs. No one had ever seen his face, and his weapon was equally invisible: Maestro was a powerful psychic. Shadowy Ireul, the Angel of Terror, was his to call upon.

A comfortable distance away from the unsettling Maestro, an unlikely pair stood in rapt attention. The deeply contrasting couple was Lyserg's biggest source of support aside from Jeanne.

The younger member of the pair was Millie, kid sibling of the late Meene, X-Laws member and Lyserg's friend. A cute girl who distinctly resembled her _nee-chan_, Millie was a diminutive but energetic ash blond package always hanging around Lyserg, begging for his advice and help. Naive but dedicated, she had an exact duplicate of Meene's gun, a .44 Colt Peacemaker, "the gun that won the West". Her Angel protector was Sandalphon, the cute but awesome Angel of Embryos. Right now, Millie was giving Lyserg a big grin that told him how much she trusted him.

It was perhaps the older woman who would bear closer attention, though. Where all the other X-Laws were garbed in white –even Maestro; his armor was white with blue areas–, this woman was clothed in full black regalia, white crosses adorning the sleeves of her coat. She would strike many as a Protestant minister; in fact, she was far different from a man of God: Where His apostles walked in the eternal light, she had delved deep into the darkness.

Slung over her back was a thin curving metal rod, longer than she was tall and which seemed to be misleadingly light in weight. Its tip bore an odd ensemble of gems and metal fittings. The entire device looked harmless and without purpose.

She did not have an angel to call her own. None would hearken to her, and she would not accept one anyway.

Her name was Rune Minor. She was the only member of X-Laws who had once been a follower of Asakura Hao –one of his most powerful and devoted ones, in fact.

She was the last person –even more so than Hao himself– who defect to X-Laws. Even Lyserg had briefly wondered if he could really have swayed her into joining her hated foes. In their mission briefing before their battle, Marco had voiced his convincing opinion that she would rather choose to die than even consider surrendering. Rune herself had told Lyserg that much, before they had fought their decisive battle.

Yet, here she was now, a full-fledged member of X-Laws, and if not openly cheering him on, then Rune was doing nothing to undermine Lyserg's ascendance.

The young dowser silently thanked Jeanne, Drake, Millie and even Marco for their strong support. He needed whatever help he could get. For one thing, Vincent had been openly critical of him from the start; what reason she had was beyond grasp. Lyserg considered the legendary "special relationship" between Britain and America and tossed that ideal into the waste bin when Vincent was concerned.

On the other hand, Maestro had disapproved of the idea of such a young boy as leader of the X-Laws. _Probably was considering himself as a candidate,_ Lyserg uncharitably decided. Privately, he wondered how he was going to get this team to work together.

As for Rune... well, she was who she was. Let sleeping dogs lie.

_...Even in the knowledge that when it wakes up it's going to tear the baby's throat out?_

Lyserg found himself repeating what Marco dictated to him. Despite the frown Vincent sported –as usual, Maestro's face could not be made out– the ceremony went on without a hitch. That is, until the last part.

Reciting from memory, Jeanne began, "Now that you have been chosen, Lyserg Diethyl, you are faced with the oath and the responsibility that comes with that oath. Do you say 'Aye' or 'Nay' to that which faces you now?" She was quite serious and beautiful even so. "Do you choose 'Aye' or 'Nay', to serve and protect me to the utmost of your power?"

It was a simple question with the equally simple answer being either a Yes or a No. Lyserg had done pretty well for the previous quarter hour. It was here that he made his slip.

"I do."

He did not immediately understand why everyone was staring at him. Millie was every bit the picture of a very stunned _bishoujo_, complete with disarrayed hair and big sweat drop; in marked contrast to her and everyone else, Rune was as silent and implacable as the grave. Vincent Ganger was agape, her mouth a massive cavern of shock. Maestro's helmet was bowed slightly, signifying that something had caught his interest. Drake Malloy was trying hard not to break into a gale of laughter.

Marco was the worst of all. He was simply outraged and stunned and furious and dumb all at the same time. He was clenching and unclenching his hands as if he was trying to squeeze the life out of something in them; the veins on his forehead had never looked bigger. His eyes were so huge Lyserg feared they might pop out of their sockets.

When he turned back to Jeanne, Lyserg found the Iron Maiden blushing for no reason he could immediately discern. He did note that she was looking at him in a rather embarrassed way and that her cheeks did look cute when they were crimson. Then he promptly beat the idea about Jeanne's cute cheeks out of his head; Maestro might have been eavesdropping on his mind.

"Uh, Jeanne-_sama_?"

Rune's scolding sigh told him half the answer. Making a cross-like gesture with her hand, the black-clad X-Laws declared in an acerbically solemn voice: "Then I now pronounce you, Lyserg Diethyl and Iron Maiden Jeanne, husband and wife."

A ghost of a smile flitted across that pale face. "You may now kiss the bride."

Lyserg turned bright pink. So did Jeanne.

**Sheo's**** Thoughts: I guess you guessed that I was taking the new Angels' names from Evangelion, did you? Sorry, couldn't put myself to research seriously into names that end with –_iel_.**

For those who don't know: The entire X-Laws–minus Lyserg, Marco and Jeanne – were really killed in the last battle with Hao. It's important to my plot that there is a new X-Laws team just recently formed. Don't worry; only two characters here are really important: Millie and Rune Minor. I'm not going to confuse you guys too much.

Chapter 3 is coming soon. Please REVIEW my work!

Oh. And please read JSF's fan fiction. It's quite good.

(Do you forgive me now, JSF? Tee hee! ^_^)


	4. Three: Dates and Braids and Thoughts

**Previously, on "The Romancers"...**

A new face and form to the once-dreaded X-Laws, once executors, now preservers. A ceremony –so far so good– and then a tiny slip causes a ceremony to go awry... okay, perhaps 'awry' is too heavy a word and overkill for the situation at hand. But, if we look at Marco... err, don't look at him. He looks ready to kill.

Now, the lawfully wedded bridegroom –err, I mean, the protagonists have to deal with that teeny tiny lapse of concentration. Plus Marco's wrath, of course... ^_^

**The Romancers**

**Set One: Shaman King**

**By: Sheo Darren**

**Iron Maiden and Dowser Knight**

**Chapter Three**

**Dates and Braids and Thoughts**

Lyserg was still highly embarrassed, even after they had finished the turning-over ceremony and gone back to the hotel. Inside his mind, a thousand ways of apologizing to Jeanne for his silly error were born and died in the space of a moment's time. He had rejected each one of them as silly, preposterous or stuffy. Besides, Marco looked overtly dangerous, and the lion aroused is not one you'd want to face at once.

As if he did not have enough trouble already. Vincent Ganger was of the loudly vocal opinion –addressed to any stranger in the vicinity– that the newest leader of the X-Laws was one fine James Bond. The implication was a tad disturbing: Though he admired Sean Connery and Roger Moore a lot, Lyserg did not think of himself as "Mr. Kiss-Kiss Bang-Bang".

Why would anyone –especially he himself– want to try the "Bond, James Bond" trick with Jeanne? They would have to get through Marco first.

If so, Lyserg wished them the best of luck.

Speak of the devil –or X-Laws– who was barging into his room but Marco himself? The former leader of the X-Laws was more composed now, but he was still one unhappy little chap. Lyserg prepared for a vitriolic sermon –or worse, an attack on his physical being.

Marco did neither of that. Instead, he just stomped over to where the young dowser was seated on his bed, gnashed his teeth for a few seconds, tried to clear his throat, and then burst out: "How long have the two of you been together?"

It was all Lyserg could do not to burst out laughing. "What? I'm afraid I don't understand what you're saying, Marco."

"How long has Mistress Jeanne had a relationship with you?" Poor Marco looked like he was at the end of his wits; he had never suspected a thing like this could happen while he was still alive and watching over the Iron Maiden. "Tell me the truth! I want to know when you started going out with each other!"

"You mean a… a romantic relationship?"

The man's head bobbed up and down –rather ferociously, too.

Lyserg badly wanted to sigh or moan or express dismay. On the other hand, maybe what he really wanted to do was laugh.

"Marco, there is nothing going on between Jeanne-_sama_ and me. We are just friends; good friends, yes, but only friends. That's all."

"No dates?"

"No."

"No dinners alone?"

"None."

"You never had–" Marco choked on the words and outcome he feared the most.

Lyserg had a feeling he knew what was meant. He did not want to agitate Marco (the man was bad enough when calm; how more if pissed off?). Besides, he would never every try _that_ with Jeanne, because she wouldn't let it…

...And Lyserg wouldn't allow himself.

No. He loved her too much for that.

"No. Nothing has ever happened between the two of us. Jeanne-_sama_ would never allow it; for my part, I will not do it."

The relief that sprung upon Marco's face was his expected reaction. "You don't know how much I was worried."

"On the contrary, I feel I do know you were badly worried."

"We never had this discussion," he said sternly. "Understand?"

Lyserg nodded obediently, though to himself he wondered if Maestro had been psychically eavesdropping on the dialogue. "It's off the record."

"That was interesting," a new voice offered.

A testament to his able-bodied fitness, Marco spun around in record time, his gun in hand and finger already on the trigger. In marked contrast, Lyserg fell off his bed and flat on his face in front of Rune Minor.

The black-clad X-Laws gave them a cool look. "Impressive. Your reaction time has not slowed a bit, Marco."

"And it never will." The steely shine of Marco's gun barrel gestured menacingly at Rune. "What are you doing here?"

"On the other hand," Rune continued, ignoring him and focusing instead on Lyserg, still sprawled on the floor, "You're still as inept and foolish as ever, last scion of the Diethyls."

"That's nice to hear from you, Miss Rune." He tried to pick himself up from his clumsy sprawl, but he was managing a smile. "Now can you help me get up?"

Her look took on a shadow of warmth. Rune grasped the free hand of the new leader of the X-Laws and helped him up on his feet.

"Very nice joke you sprung on me earlier." One of his knees was numb but Lyserg decided to ignore it. "I didn't know you knew how to make one."

"Humor: The best medicine."

"You still haven't answered my question." It was Marco, growling menacingly. His gun barrel had never wavered from Rune. It was a fact that the two did not even try to pretend a truce as teammates but openly hated each other. Marco had been the first one to give battle to Rune when the X-Laws first encountered the fallen Shaman, and the latter had been very happy to retaliate. If it weren't for Lyserg and Jeanne's mediating presences, they would have attacked each other right now, even if they were supposed to be allies.

Neither had the look on Rune's face changed one bit. _She has nerves of steel,_ Lyserg decided; _if Marco was in that kind of mood and pointing a gun at me right now, I would probably be very nervous._

"The Iron Maiden wishes the audience of the scion of the Diethyls. She requests that it be accomplished as soon as possible."

"Is that so?" The corner of Marco's mouth twitched just slightly. That meant he was annoyed. And you didn't want him annoyed. Not ever.

Lyserg decided that he should defuse the situation. "It's all right, Marco. Jeanne-_sama_ wouldn't call for me if it wasn't important."

"And why did Mistress Jeanne decide to choose _you_ as her messenger?" he shot at his object of detestation (Rune, not Lyserg; though a source of concern when it came to the issue of the Iron Maiden's affections, the latter did have a few good points to balance himself out.)

That barely restrained snarl didn't even bat one of her eyebrows, though Lyserg had promptly cringed. "Ganger is on the rooftop scanning the area with her petty toys. Malloy is on the entrance; Maestro is somewhere in the vicinity. As for that girl–" the faint hint of a smile presented itself upon Rune's pale but fair face– "She's fixing the Iron Maiden's hair."

"Oh," Lyserg said. By 'girl' Rune meant Millie, who was still a child at heart and mind.

"SHE'S WHAT?"

"Janne-_sama_, what do you think?"

Seeing the new look in the mirror offered her, the gray-haired girl in question blushed slightly. "I think it's nice, Millie-_kun_." Jeanne touched one of her new braids, which she found pleasant. "In fact, I like it a lot."

"_Honto nee?_" Millie broke into a big grin. "_Oka-chan_ and _onee-chan_ taught me that! I'm so happy to know you love it!"

"Yes, indeed."

The door to the room nearly burst from its hinges, so violent was it kicked open. The loud sound made Millie jump and Jeanne turn in alarm.

The cacophony of reactions was interesting to observe.

Jeanne: "What is wrong, Marco?"

Marco: "Mistress Jeanne! Your hair! What did that twit do to your hair?"

Lyserg: "Marco, there's nothing wrong with her hair; Jeanne-_sama_ looks very nice– err, I mean–"

Rune: "Idiot."

Millie: "_Gomennasai_, Sir Marco! I'm sorry; I didn't really mean to–"

Marco: "Silence, girl! Do you have any idea who she is? She's the Iron Maiden! You can't do this to her! This is sacrilege, blasphemous!"

Lyserg: "Uh, Marco, calm down! I'm sure Millie didn't mean it!"

Marco: "And you! You're another pain in my neck, boy!"

Rune: "Fools."

Jeanne did not like where the argument was heading, so she sternly intervened. "Marco!"

That firm command did the trick; he promptly began apologizing. "Forgive me, Mistress Jeanne! I let myself get carried away."

"You usually do," Rune commented dryly.

Marco gave her a vile glare.

"Excellent, Rune. I see you've brought Lyserg here, as I requested." The Iron Maiden was composing herself, but the flush on her cheeks just would not go away. Maybe a certain dowser's presence was the reason.

Lyserg was affected, too. Whatever it was Millie had been doing with her hair, Jeanne was breathtaking. Half of her blue-gray mane was tied up in delicately cute braids, making her seem younger than her thirteen years. What was left undone was in a slight state of unbound disarray but actually looked great, giving Jeanne an aura of barely restrained… _wildness_ so unlike her, a touch Lyserg felt aroused about. The contrast was not to be missed.

When she looked at him, his emotions leapt in joy. A longer look than usual made his thumping heart a viable contender to break the high jump world record. But when it was Marco's turn to stare at him, Lyserg carefully tucked away whatever enjoyment he found out of this situation and pretended to be very calm.

"All right, Marco." Jeanne was not displeased; she had just been caught unawares and was in a forgiving mood right now. "Apologize to Millie, and we'll put this matter behind us."

"But Maiden-_sama!" Accompanied by a stare at Millie, who felt rightfully threatened and who therefore hid behind Lyserg, further embarrassing and endangering the latter in Marco's sights._

"Marco." The Iron Maiden did not get her name for nothing, and now she showed her steel. Her mouth was an immovable line. "Apologize to Millie-_kun_."

Trembling badly because it went against his personal dogma and convictions, Marco forced himself to mutter something beneath his breath.

"Pardon me?" That was Jeanne, since the poor Millie was too frightened to protest. "I didn't hear that, Marco."

"Sorry."

"Make it a better one."

"Sorry, Millie-_kun." Sarcasm dripped from Marco's words, especially on the -_kun_ part._

"Millie-_kun?"_

The ash blonde girl forced a hesitant grin. "Uh, it's okay?"

At last Jeanne smiled. "There. I guess you are forgiven, Marco."

"Go forth and sin no more, child," added Rune in a paternalistic voice.

"Do you mind?" Marco hissed. The latter coolly returned the envenomed stare.

_Rune must run on ice water, Lyserg thought. __And Marco would be Tabasco sauce. Or nitroglycerine._

"Well, then." Jeanne smoothed the few wrinkles on her gown. "If you may all leave me and Lyserg-_kun here alone for a moment, then that would be all."_

"WHAT?"

That was Marco again, establishing a personal record of gawking in unhappy astonishment for this day. "Mistress Jeanne, what do you mean; you and Lyserg here alone?"

She raised a curious eyebrow, her crimson eyes rather queer. "Is there anything wrong with my talking to Lyserg alone, Marco?"

Marco made strangling noises in his throat. "No, Jeanne-_sama;_ nothing wrong at all."

Aside, Rune's smile grew slightly more pronounced. "Nothing at all, except you don't approve them being alone together?" All in all, this was not one of her rival's better days, and she was living the moment up.

Her archenemy shot her a glare that would have killed her a million times over. A hand strayed to his gun.

"Marco." For the first time that day, Jeanne's voice sounded impatient. "Is there anything else you want to tell me?"

The look on Marco's face made Lyserg wonder if he would throw caution and common sense to the wind and attack Rune. The new leader of the X-Laws hoped not.

His neutral look very much strained, Marco turned back to Jeanne, said he was leaving now, bowed solemnly, grabbed Millie by the nape of her uniform's collar as he passed by and virtually dragged the hapless girl out of the room. With a last glance at Lyserg, Rune followed them outside. The door closed slowly.

There was an immediate sound in the room that made him turn around. To Lyserg surprise, he found Jeanne chuckling.

"Poor Marco; I didn't really mean to do that to him, but I just couldn't help it. Wasn't he a funny sight, Lyserg-_kun_?"

And Lyserg, seeing the Iron Maiden he adored was an ordinary person, broke into a smile.

**Sheo's Thoughts: **

I will assume that there are Marco loyalists around reading this fan fiction. Yes, even however likely that impossibility is.

Marco is so strict and overbearing around Jeanne that I just couldn't help but slam him. He's a jerk who thinks he's so holy that we should all kneel down to him. So you understand why I just couldn't help but cut him down at the knees. With a halberd.

I hope you guys like my portrayals of Rune and Millie. I enjoyed myself having Rune do a Saitou Hajime and shoot Marco down with her intelligently sarcastic barbs. Also, Lyserg and Jeanne are so _kawaii_! Sorry if this chapter is long; I just loved writing it!

Chapter Four coming soon! Thank you for all my reviewers, especially to JSF (hello, very sorry and thank you very much!) I promise to keep up my good work on this story! Oh, and please read my Rayearth fan fiction too, _A Day in the Life of Hikaru and Nova Shidou_. Upgrading that soon, promise!


	5. Four: Thoughts Courtesy The XLaws

**Disclaimer:**

Sheo Darren is very proud to be known as a Filipino...

_"CNN Late Breaking News: An unidentified man has snuck himself onto the International Space Station _**_Independence__ and has taken the entire crew hostage with a shock and awe paper clip. His demands are simple and as follows: 'Give me all your money and your valuables!' As to his planned method of escape, he claims he will use a homemade parachute and an anting-anting (_amulet_) _to jump out the space station and reenter the atmosphere. Stay tuned for further details..."__**

...Or maybe not. Sigh...

The usual stuff, I guess. Shaman King is not mine. But Rione Asuka Hunter, The Romancers, Rune Minor and Millie are (why did I ever forget to mention the last two?) Oh, and hello to JSF: I don't know you, but I know you. Tee hee!

**Previously, on "The Romancers"...******

An angry Marco. A frightened Millie. A cool Rune. Jeanne and Lyserg are left all alone to themselves. 'Nuff said.

**The Romancers**

**Set One: Shaman King**

**By: Sheo Darren**

**Iron Maiden and Dowser Knight**

**Chapter Four**

**Thoughts Courtesy The X-Laws**

The girl in black slipped past the burly X-Laws at the front entrance with the ease and grace of a ballerina. It was too easy: With no disguise or alibi whatsoever, she had just walked inside and flashed the unsuspecting Drake Malloy a big smile of greeting. He had never known who smiled at him or what had hit him.

And now she was inside the system, and it didn't know she was there, would never know until it was too late.

The backpack she bore suddenly began twitching. "Hey, cut it out," the girl scolded whatever it was inside the bag. "Someone might notice us."

It –or they, whatever the presence in the bag was– promptly stopped moving.

...Was a cutely pitched voice piping up, squeaking, "Haro?" or "Hello?"

This was the tricky part. The opposition had a psychic in their ranks, and even if she was far beyond whom she seemed to be, giving the other team a clue to her whereabouts was an invitation to disaster. So the girl concentrated on thinking of her least favorite animated series, a phony smile on her face, letting her feet do the walking mechanically, her limbs impelled not by her mind but by sheer indoctrinated and practiced muscles.

The man called Maestro was secluded inside a dark room. Outwardly he showed no signs of life, looking far more like an oversized puppet than the powerful psychic he was. It was hard to believe he was very busy right now.

But he was. His powerful mind subtly scanned the thoughts of the population within the hotel he guarded, searching for any trouble. Only a moment and a thought needed, and the target would be completely paralyzed by his tremendous psychic will.

Right now he invisibly hovered within the mind of a girl dressed in black. For a personal reason, people who wore dark clothing attracted Maestro's suspicion more easily. It had something to do with the evil Asakura Hao, whose black-clad minions once shattered the body and nearly broke the will of a young man. But the boy had survived –if one called imprisonment inside a plastic cage for the rest of his life 'survival'– and he had become who he was: Maestro.

There was nothing to be gathered from the girl he was observing, though: Just another one of those fluffy-brained kids who liked _anime_. He nearly spat when he saw the disgusting scene playing inside her mind.

_Another rabid yaoi bishounen fan?__ What nonsense is getting into the minds of the youth?_

There were bigger fish to fry than this. Maestro turned his will to scan in a different direction.

The almost-undetectable presence disappeared, and the girl sighed in relief. She just hated plot-less _bishounen_ stories –including a lot of CLAMP anime, but especially Yu Watase's _Fushigi__ Yuugi– but in this case it proved a very good cover._

Again that tiny squeak, followed by several more in rapid succession: Whatever it was in the bag, it wasn't alone.

"Hello?"

"Haro!"

"Lacus!"

"Rione!"

"Romancers!"

Rione Asuka Hunter grinned to herself: "_Now I've got the jazz."_

"Uh, don't you think Maiden-_sama's_ hair was nice, Miss Rune?"

"Marco doesn't seem to approve. Don't you, Marco?"

"..."

The only reason Millie was enthusiastic right now was because Rune Minor was there, a shield against Marco. Normally she wouldn't even dare anything but breathe when the scary ex-leader of the X-Laws was around her. Millie was rightfully scared stiff of Marco, as if he might eat her or something equally horrid.

A likeable possibility, so don't you laugh about it.

But Rune was Millie's friend. Lyserg had asked the former shaman to keep an eye on the young X-Laws, a naïve ditz at times and not much of a fighter (though not _that helpless). To the surprise of those who knew her as cold and uncaring, Rune went one farther and became the coolly detached but protective ally to an admittedly lonely Millie. Their pairing was very strange, but somehow their alliance worked just fine enough._

Marco was radiating a burning aura of hostility. Rune returned the favor by giving him a literally cold shoulder with her spiritual aura. Unfortunately for Millie, she was feeling the effects of that war: The poor girl would feel cold in one moment and then get scalded the next. Not a fun situation.

Nevertheless this was not going to keep her good spirits down. Millie had adopted the very daunting and hazardous task of making Rune smile as her own personal mission. So far she still hadn't succeeded, but like her _onee-chan Meene she was not giving up so easily._

Aside, she wondered what Lyserg-_kun _and Jeanne-_kun_ were doing. Millie knew very well that her friend was very much in love with the Iron Maiden and knew the reasons why. Jeanne was beautiful beyond belief, excessively kind and saintly in aura, a goddess given mortal shape and life. She so perfectly complemented Lyserg's own charm and virtues; it was like they were simply _Fated_ to be together. They made such a sweet and adorable couple: The Iron Maiden and her dowser knight.

And so Millie was envious of the angel with the silvery-mane, because she also liked a certain green-haired dowser very much...

For his part, Marco was suffering in his own private version of hell on earth. This was not due to that annoying excuse-for-an-X-Laws twit or even the presence of his arch nemesis Rune Minor (detested for the simple reason that she existed in the same dimensional plane as he did). It was wholly stemming from a certain emerald-eyed green-haired boy who was the love interest of the girl Marco had been taking care of all his life.

The greatest fear of all fathers with daughters is that their dear little darling would end up with a boy who was exactly like him in his younger years.

And though Lyserg was nothing like a younger version of himself, there was enough about him that Marco worried about.

It was easy to understand why Jeanne was attracted to him. Lyserg was handsome to the point of being called pretty, but always in a masculine way. His quiet, low-key personality piqued most people he met. Though he made few friends, he was fiercely loyal to them, willing to sacrifice himself to protect them. He was courageous and strong-willed, and strangely enough for a moody wanderer, he was also of a kind disposition and a beautifully innocent heart.

Jeanne was not the only one who had been attracted to his orbit; Meene, Millie, his power spirit Morphine, and even the vaunted Rune Minor were just among the few. Bond, James Bond indeed, if only in the way women adored him.

Hand-in-hand to this attraction was Jeanne herself. Her solitary upbringing and the stringent preparation had left her little time or space to call her own. Always she had to be Mistress Jeanne, the Iron Maiden; she was never Jeanne, a gray-blue haired, crimson-eyed girl. Always she must endure the needling pain within the claustrophobic prison of her namesake. Always she must suffer in the name of God and the betterment of mankind. The piano or the rose garden was her only retreat, and then only sparsely. Jeanne was the perfect model of the famous Saint Ignatius: An eternally sacrificing servant.

Marco had carefully cultivated her growth, tending to her as a master gardener would his prized orchid. Jeanne was his most valued possession in the world, for the simple fact that he had denied himself so much. She was the only thing left to Marco to call his own...

...And seeing that one last personal possession drifting away from him and into the arms of this- this mere _boy_ was not conducive to Marco's state of well-being.

Jeanne was not supposed to be prone to human desires and weaknesses. She was as close to not being human as any person could be without completely sacrificing her humanity. She was chosen by divine grace to be the shining symbol of the crusade against evil. She was as far from all the others as an angel was from a mortal. Jeanne was the Iron Maiden, blessed untouchable, the inviolable chalice, the long-suffering angel.

Yet somehow, just as surely as day replaces night, the impenetrable defenses of the Iron Maiden had been pierced. A human heart still beat within that cold envelope of steel; a human soul still lived within those red eyes. Jeanne was still human, a girl.

Jeanne could still fall in love.

Not so long ago, Rune Minor had thought herself incapable of caring for anyone anymore. With the mantle of darkness she had taken for her own and the many sins that lay upon her as heavy as a material cross, it was little wonder she felt as if she would never be clean again.

For all that she had done left a stain upon her, their indelible mark obliterating any evidence that her soul had once pure white and beautiful.

The Grim Reaper. That was what the followers of Asakura Hao had called her. She was the woman in black, one who bore the implement of the harvest of souls, the silent attendant to the deceptively young façade of the renegade Shaman Lord, the iron right hand that punished and rewarded as requested.

Yes, requested, because Hao was _not_ Rune's master, and she was not his minion. No command of his would ever beckon her to do what was asked of her. No threat could stir her, not even death fazed her. Hao had known this when he had first encountered the pale specter in black, had known that she would never bow down to anyone or anything. Rune retained total command of herself and her dignity. She would never be broken to his will.

All the more sad, for all she had done in Hao's name was by her own free will. All the deaths, all the horrors: It was all by her hand and mind and permission.

Sometimes the nightmares made their way past her defenses. Sometimes she would sit bolt awake in her bed, just barely escaping the terrors that grasped at the very edges of her consciousness. Sometimes she wished they had caught her then and there and ended her misery.

Sometimes she wondered if she still was human.

For years Rune toiled under the guise of Death. For years she wielded her tool to reap what whirlwind was sown by the thunder called down by Hao. She was supposed to have been among those accompanying the renegade Shaman in the last battle. Her absence, one that helped in no small deal towards the defeat of Hao, was due to the most ordinary of things.

Rune had caught a very bad flu.

Some might have found it funny that the fate of the world lay in the hands of a bacterium penetrating the defenses of the human immune system. Rune herself wondered what this omen meant, sick as she was in bed and unable to do much more than care for herself and rest.

And so the new era had come, with the defeat of Hao and a new future beckoning to ordinary folk and Shamans and spirits alike. Rune found herself out of place in this new world: Without purpose, without reputation. She was forgotten and as good as gone.

Then she had met Lyserg Diethyl.

She had hated him at first, hated him far more than even the despise she bore for Marco. He was not the one who defeated Hao, he was nothing much more than a potential largely untapped, and yet Lyserg instilled in Rune a deep anger she could not explain. In this rage she attacked the X-Laws without abandon.Millie and Marco had fought her to a standstill before reluctantly allowing Lyserg to step in and face the Grim Reaper alone.

Their battle was awesome at least, all the power and anger Rune could summon against the mighty archangel that was now Morphine and the determination in those emerald eyes of this green-haired dowser.

She had been defeated, of course, and quietly awaited her fate. The X-Laws were not known for sparing Hao's minions. And Rune didn't care much about living anymore. Having known death for a lifetime, was a last dance with an old friend to be feared?

And so she was surprised to see the hand beckoning to her, the weary but honest smile that Lyserg gave her and the fateful question he posed.

"You know no other purpose. Would you like to join me, Miss Rune, and find a new purpose for yourself?"

And Rune had done something she had never done for long years past.

She had smiled.

"Yes."

**Sheo's**** Thoughts: And so this is a rather long-winded chapter which is meant to portray the thoughts and personalities of Rione, Millie, Marco and Rune. I hope you'd bear up with me, and for good reason: Chapter Five is pure unadulterated romantically-inclined fluff, almost entirely Lyserg and Jeanne. Do they admit it so? Do they dither around the subject? And when will Rione ever run out of smart-aleck comments?**

On a side note: Guess where Rione got her cute little 'jazz' quote? If you guessed "The A-Team", then you're either very well-informed or very old. Care for a round with Mr. T, anyone? "I pity the fool, who messes with me!"

Be afraid of whatever it is within the bag. Be very afraid...

Hi to Athena Asamiya, Lone Wolf, Blackheart Zero, Fluffychans, JSF, Illuminet, Angel-wing2, Kitsune Asakura, and all those fellow **fanfiction.net I read, review and admire!******


	6. Five: A Moment To Ourselves

**Disclaimer: **Let me list the things I view as my property in this fan fiction: Rione, Rune, Millie, The Romancers, the plot and story. I would dearly love to have an eighteen-year old Iron Maiden Jeanne as my own, too. But I can't, because she is an ideal not of this world. Besides, Marco will kill me. Or maybe I should kill Marco _and_ then take Jeanne as my own.

Hmm, a rather interestingly tempting idea...

To all the fan fiction writers I admire, including JSF, li long, Chisaii404 and my fellow Filipino, Fluffychans.

Finally: Chapter Five is served! _Itadekimasu__! Ikuyo!_

**The Romancers**

**Set One: Shaman King**

**By: Sheo Darren**

**Iron Maiden and Dowser Knight**

**Chapter Five**

**A Moment to Ourselves**

Never before had Lyserg ever dreamed this would come, not in his wildest fantasies, never. As the door closed behind the irate Marco, hapless Millie and unconcerned Rune; as the lock clicked into place –privacy, an illusion all on its own–, this time was sealed into eternity, recorded into history as written within his heart.

For a second that felt like a lifetime to the young dowser, unbidden came the fear that this 'once in a blue moon' moment would irrevocably break into the grimness of reality; that this was a daydream or a figment of imagination or the proverbial 'head in the clouds'.

But it was no illusion, no dream and no half-truth.

It simply was.

And deny it he could not. Deny it he _would_ not.

For the fact was that the long-dreamed of moment –that _fleur-de-lis_ baton of tragic D'Artagnan and _The Man in the Iron Mask fame– had finally come true._

Lyserg was alone, at last, alone with his beloved Jeanne.

He turned at the sound of sparkling laughter and found its source a beautiful angel bedecked in white and blue, her artistically emboldened silvery mane rippling in the light, eyes all too evidently delighted. Jeanne looked up at him, her hand slipping back to her lap, her sight and her smile wonderful to behold.

"Poor Marco; I didn't really mean to do that to him, but I just couldn't help it. Wasn't he a funny sight, Lyserg-_kun_?"

And he couldn't help himself –he made himself do it, in fact. Lyserg smiled back at her with all the warmth and love that he could summon.

For he found it funny as well: Marco, that greatest of foils, had been outsmarted by a trio of girls whose actions had not been planned in the least way, but had perfectly come hand-in-hand as in any Broadway stage play. It was as if Fate –that fickle instrumental angel of God– had decided to admit this one kink in her previously faultless tapestry, and then God had heartily helped out for a change.

All of that _just to pick on a certain abominable X-Laws._

And some people say God is an old man with no sense of humor at all, and Fate a cranky old grandmother stuck with knitting sweaters.

But Lyserg was not interested in the _why_. He was interested only in the _now_, the moment itself and whatever would come out of it.

And he quickly but earnestly prayed that he make the most out of it.

"Lyserg-_kun, won't you sit down?"_

"_Hai__, Maiden-__sama." He made a gesture to take a chair from nearby but caught Jeanne cutely shaking her head._

The girl who was the Iron Maiden patted a spot on her bed, a spot that happened to be a distance of **one inch ****beside her.**

"Please sit here, Lyserg-_kun_."

Left alone once more –technically incorrect, considering she _wasn't_ really alone– Rione Asuka Hunter flicked open her mini communicator and began:

"Romancers Report: Agent on station is Hunter, Rione Asuka. Subjects confirmed as Diethyl, Lyserg and Jeanne, Iron Maiden (if that's her first name?) Subjects are alone with each other and in a good position to resolve their crisis on their own. No immediate hindrances, not even that annoying bespectacled killjoy or that creepy puppet guy."

Taking in a quick breath, she added, "I guess this is it. Either they say 'Yes' or 'No'. I'll watch what happens next. If it's good, I'll let it be. If not, I'm going in. Wish me luck, guys."

"If I ever see that Architect ever again," Rione sorely reminded herself as she turned off the communicator; "I am so going to _kick his ass. Stupid Colonel Sanders rip-off messing up my head with gibberish. Poor KFC."_

Then the same cutely-pitched voice from earlier piped up from her bag. "Hello? Rione? Lux! Romancers!"

Grinning, the black-clad girl tapped the contents affectionately. "Soon, soon, wait a while longer. Promise to behave a little while longer; you'll be in the thick of things soon enough."

"_Sugoi__, sugoi! Promise!"_

"Good." Brushing back a few tardy fronds of her dark hair, Rione smiled in anticipation. "The lights are on, the curtains are raised, and the act begins."

"Please sit here, Lyserg."

Jeanne was not surprised to see him hesitate at that simple command. She had already known beforehand how shy he was around girls in general and herself in particular–which was exactly why she was doing this.

"_Anou__? Jeanne-_sama_?__"_

"It's safe, you know; my bed won't eat you."

And Jeanne's reassuring smile and encouraging words were enough to assuage his shyness and fear of Marco. Lyserg obligingly sat down beside her and madly tried to suppress his burning cheeks. Staring at his shoes helped, but every now and then he found his eyes flicking towards the very pleasant distraction on his left –a particular object of attention who was herself _also sometimes glancing back at him._

For a while they simply sat there and fiddled with their own thoughts, dwelling upon the silence and loneliness to be found in the human person. Then Jeanne began to absently play with one of her braids, daintily twirling the end of the plait and bringing it close to her lips as if to breathe upon it and so bring it to life. 

Lyserg was mesmerized all too easily, the quick glimpses he snuck at her coming more frequently and lasting longer with each attempt. He felt his stomach go funny and his throat dry up and his cheeks heat up.

There was the scent of baby shampoo –a sweet-smelling garden of flowers– wafting from those silken locks, beckoning to him, teasing the young dowser's thoughts_. Like how many laughing images of Jeanne danced upon a sea of flowers so gracefully, their every dainty step accompanied by angelic laughter, drops of essential oil of sweetness cascading upon her waist-long mane and her bare milky pale skin..._

It was all Lyserg could do not to hit himself on the head for that thought, or to even think continuing the thread his mind was taking. _Impure thoughts, evil, evil... Must not think of Jeanne-sama like that... Must not think of her in the shower... Marco will kill me if he knew... so, must not think of us in shower..._

_Eh?_

**_Us __in the shower?****_**

_Bad Lyserg! **BAD Lyserg! Shame on you! If he ever learns of this, Marco will kill me! **_

_NO: Marco **SHOULD** kill me!_

_From ecchi to prude to fatalist... what is happening to me?_

_Please don't let Maestro be reading my mind. Anything but that, please..._

"Lyserg-_kun?"_

Jeanne found herself inordinately absorbed over the spectacle of a green-haired dowser turning tomato red right before her very eyes. Lyserg had an amusing way of expressing embarrassment: First he'd seem a touch too quiet; then the blood rapidly rose up to his cheeks as he realized whatever mistake he made, and then so cute when startled at having his name called that he'd be stuttering rapid apologies and tripping on every word.

Just like now.

"_A-Anou, sorry,__ Jeanne-_chan_– err, I mean, Jeanne-_sama_! Um, err..."___

She smiled in that beautiful way she always did, and on some strange impulse she let her hand pressed upon his own most gently. Her concern at his odd actions abated and was forgotten; his panic died away and replaced with sheepish reluctance.

Though everyone in the X-Laws was duty-bound to always respectfully address Jeanne as 'Mistress' –hence the formal _–sama_ suffix– the girl who was the Iron Maiden secretly preferred a cutesy endearment of –_chan_ far more than all the titles in the world. And somehow Lyserg saying it made her heart even lighter and beat faster. To hear him call her such sent a surge of emotion through her, a quick release from the heavy burden she bore daily and without question.

"It's all right, Lyserg-_kun_; you can address me any way you want."

"Really –I mean: No! Sorry, Jeanne-_sama_, I can't just– uh, it's improper of me to do that, what will Marco say..."

"Marco isn't here. But to allay your fears," and here the slightest hint of mischief showed itself in her smile, "I hereby allow you to address me in any way you like. I can give commands that you are bound to follow, _ne?"_

He wasn't blushing as fiercely now, but Lyserg was still highly embarrassed. "Y-Yes, Jeanne-_sama_– uh..."

"Jeanne-_chan," the angelic girl suggested as her secretly impish delight increased. "Or just Jeanne, if you like, but I think I prefer Jeanne-_chan_."_

He repeated it to himself several times, mainly to boost his self-confidence and convince himself that it was okay, the Iron Maiden had said–wanted it so... Maestro is not listening on us... what Marco does not know can't send said X-Laws into a homicidal rage...

"_H-Hai, Jeanne– Jeanne-__chan..."_

"Very good_, Lyserg-_chan_." Then, unable to restrain herself much longer, Jeanne broke into peals of laughter that intensified poor his awkwardness yet brought a smile on his face._

He said: "You look very nice when you laugh, Jeanne-_sa__– Jeanne-__chan__."_

There. He'd said it. Her fit was cut short as she looked at Lyserg with a bright tint on her cheeks and her ruby eyes looking quite taken aback. She asked:

"Do you think so, Lyserg-_kun_?"

"_Hai." No hesitation, just straight-out from-the-heart honesty that he wasn't really planning to convey. "You should smile more; your natural prettiness comes out more."_

Then Lyserg realized what he was saying and began blushing again.

_At least he didn't hit himself on the head, Jeanne thought, __like that card game we had once when Marco and the others were off on a mission... I don't want him to get hurt in any way._

_That was a fun game, though... even though it's a bit silly..._

_I wonder, are those cards still around?_

Millie: "Hey, I just remembered I brought a card game with me today! Rune-_san_, would you like to play it?"

Rune: "I have never played cards, and I have not seen any like the deck you're holding."

Millie: "It's a cool game my _onee_-_chan gave me on my birthday. It's called 'Icebreaker'. Want to try it, Rune?"_

Marco: "Gambling cards are a sin, girl. Throw them away or burn them."

Millie: "But, Sir Marco!"

Rune: "Marco, unless your name is now Rune, I believe I'm the one supposed to answer."

Marco: "I was simply voicing my personal opinions, Minor. It's a free country, isn't it?"

Millie: "It's not a gambling deck, Sir Marco... it's harmless, really. Ask Lady Maiden herself, she played it..."

Marco:** "WHAT?!? SHE PLAYED IT?!? WITH WHOM???"**

Millie: "...um, Meene told me she played it with Diethyl-_kun..."_

Marco: **"WHAT???!!!??? WHEN???!!!???"**

Millie: "...when you had left them all alone once..."

Marco: **"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTT???!!!???"**

Rune: "Hmm... Interesting..."

The room stood silent, save for slight breathing and the restrained beats of their hearts.

Reluctantly –almost forcing herself not to do it– Jeanne withdrew her hand away from its warm perch. Lyserg felt the absence of that reassuring weight immediately and longed –as Jeanne was also secretly feeling– to know that presence again, to finally hold it in his own hands and never let it go.

"Lyserg-_kun?" she –Jeanne– finally murmured softly._

"Yes?"

"Do you think– do you think we mean something?"

"What do you mean, Jeanne-_chan_?"

"I mean the X-Laws and what we're doing."

Silence, then she continued: "I've been asking myself some time now about that. Sometimes I think that with the new peace in the world and the way things are going... I think we have become an anachronism. The X-Laws was formed to combat Hao and his evil. With his final defeat, we lost the reason for our existence, the reason why we fight.

"But maybe even back then we had already... we had already failed. In the past we thought ourselves to be the one true force that would stop Hao, the ones who would bring justice to him. That was the idea behind our very order; in fact, that was the idea behind my existence all along. That was the idea of me: The Iron Maiden.

"That was the idea of Jeanne."

Her deep ruby orbs were very sad. "Am I a lie, Lyserg?"

"I was the one person who could stand up to Hao. I was the new messiah against the evils of the fallen Shaman. I was the one they could believe in: Their savior, their protector.

"And yet I was not. I was not enough; it was. I failed their lofty hopes.

"I was a lie."

She wondered why she was not crying, why the tears would not come to her eyes. Jeanne had never cried before because it was unbecoming and unlike the image of the Iron Maiden. She accepted the biting pain of her armored coffin's countless pricking knives as a necessary sacrifice. She accepted the outcome of her X-Laws killing and suffering and dying in her name and the name of humankind. She did so because there was no choice, really; that it was all for the greater good.

Or so she had been led to believe.

But what about this immense feeling of loss her heart now felt? It was beyond anything the Iron Maiden had ever felt, this emptiness, this unhappiness upon her reminisce.

Then she felt the dampness upon her cheeks, realized them as salty tears.

The Iron Maiden had shed tears at last.

She now knew the bitter truth of it all.

She was all that she had accused herself of being.

Jeanne was nothing but a lie.

"Oh, Lyserg..."

Words would not suffice. Words sometimes couldn't.

But the smallest of actions often prove enough.

He held her frail form against his own tightly but gently. He could not help it nor did he think of it –the consequences, the embarrassment, the temptations and implications all. Not even the threat of Marco and death and eternal damnation fazed him. They didn't even begin to register in his mind.

Lyserg simply hugged the mournful girl who was the Iron Maiden to himself and tried to comfort her as much as he could.

His presence was reassuring, calming. She still wept, but her sorrow was mitigated by a new knowledge: Someone understood her sadness, commiserated with her, and would always do so; such was his belief and trust in her. She was not as alone as she had once thought; there was one out there who understood her and loved her.

Yes: Loved her.

She did not care if it was a rather tender embrace that many would mistake for one thing or another. Marco would be livid with rage if he ever saw them like this. Of course the man would have the wrong ideas and go berserk. Her reputation as the Iron Maiden would also be sullied: What kind of purity was to be found in a girl who was in such close and familiar terms with a boy her age?

But this time, just this once, she didn't have to care about that. She didn't have to sacrifice anymore. This time, there was something –someone she could call her own.

And so Jeanne snuggled up close to the warm and protective presence of this loving green-haired boy and was secretly happy.

Because whatever happens, however Fate and God make the world turn, he would always be there for her.

Lyserg Diethyl would always be the dowser knight of his beloved Iron Maiden Jeanne.

From where she leaned upon the wall, her eyes closed in pensive silence, the girl in black softly murmured words to herself.

"Violet... wisteria… peach blossom... bougainvillea… peony... camellia... marigold… daisy… iris… fennel… columbines… rue…."

Her voice echoed within the room, yielding to the heart's desire of this girl.

_"Dandelion… sunflower… carnation… chrysanthemum… cherry blossom… rose… geranium… daliah… cyclamen… water lily… garbela… morning glory… juniper… tulip… poinsettia… titania…"_

She fell still, then, a genuflection to sweetness and fragrance and ideals of passion and love that flowers conveyed all at once.

"Gardenia."

Her eyes opened. The opal pupils were soft and understanding.

_"The Japanese words for gardenia… are 'I'm happy'."_

Beside her the bag lay open, empty. Around her were dozens of small shapes, bouncing and rolling and hovering whichever way they wished to play, chirruping their noisy antics and verses as they went.

"Haro! Haro!"

"Hello!"

"Lux!"

"Rione!"

"Romancers!"

Smiling slowly, reluctantly, she held a hand before her slim black-clad figure, her fingers flickering into motion. Around her, the many shapes came to a sudden, quiet halt. The silence was fateful, waiting.

Rione Asuka Hunter breathed freely.

"Showtime: Romancers."

**Sheo's**** Thoughts: Finally, this chapter is posted.As I have duly forewarned, this entire episode is mostly fluff, but unexpectedly some serious angst had to be factored in. I'm so sorry to have taken so long to update this; I've got so many things to attend to.**

Some of the things that inspired me: **You're Under Arrest OAV**, **Full Metal Panic/Fummofu** (ah, Tessa-_chan), the fan fictions **Beautiful© by Misai (excellent piece of work!), ****The Courtship of Iron Maiden Jeanne© by Angel-wing2 and **Icebreaker©** and **Chocolate Chip Cookies©** courtesy Fluffychans. I couldn't help it: Those stories were so cute and cuddly and romantic and funny! Tee-hee, _gommenasai_**__; arigatou, kawaii no Angel-wing2-__kun, Fluffychans-__chan... ^_^_

You'll see action in the next chapter, courtesy of Rione and her miniature army of sidekicks. Yes, I did say **army**. Yes, you will finally learn just what it is she carries in her bag.

This time: Be unafraid. Be very unafraid.

To Chisaii404: Sorry for misspelling your name!

Reviews wanted, waited for, longed for, etc...


	7. Six: Asuka Strikes! Hunter Rione Asuka, ...

**Disclaimer: **I'm back! And no, I still don't own ManKin or any of its characters. I do own Rione, Rune, Millie and the rest of the new X-Laws. Oh, and if you have a plush toy of Jeanne, I'll buy it. Name your price.

**The Romancers**

**Set One: Shaman King**

**By: Sheo Darren**

**Iron Maiden and Dowser Knight**

**Chapter Six**

**Asuka Strikes! (Hunter Rione Asuka, That Is)**

They were chatting amongst themselves when it struck.

Millie was doing most of the talking, cheerfully soldiering on despite the darkly silent pall upon a midsummer morning that was Marco hovering within threat range. Rune was seemingly absorbed in her own thoughts, but that only meant she was paying close attention to what Millie was saying while simultaneously keeping an eye on Marco. It pays to be paranoid at times, and the former _Shinigami was from the atavistic school of thought that enemies are better than friends because they were in front of you; your friends were inconveniently found behind you, ready for a treacherous strike. Never mind that this was the new X-Laws and Lyserg Diethyl the leader. Marco was still Marco, Rune was still Rune, and a merry-go-round of backstabbing and homicide just might come true._

It was Millie who saw it first–heard it, actually. She was gaily carrying a one-sided conversation with Rune when she heard that little voice. Out of the corner of her eyes came that flicker of movement that cut her tale short and brought her to look to her side.

"Haro?"__

They came to a halt; Millie first, then Rune. Marco was so busy mentally cursing his ill luck and what seemed to be an inevitable pairing of Lyserg Diethyl and Iron Maiden Jeanne that he didn't quite notice his companions had stopped and that he was still walking, oblivious to the world.

"Eh?"

"What is it, Millie?" asked Rune. Already the black-clad X-Laws was scanning the shadowed corridor her young friend was peering into, looking for the thing that had caught the latter's attention– and the long staff that was her weapon in her hand already. Just in case.

Millie had scurried forward and then dropped to her knees, peering at the thing before her. "_Kawaii!"_

Her girlish exclamation brought Marco out of his personal torment. "What is it now, girl?" he demanded, turning around in annoyance.

The object of the ash blonde girl's interest was spherical, roughly larger than a softball, was colored a bright red and had small black spots for eyes and was chirping, "_Moshi, moshi!" while rocking back and forth and flapping its side panels up and down as if they were arms._

Though not too curious, Rune was interested enough to merit an eyebrow raise. "Hmm?"

"It's so cute and tiny!" Nothing was stopping Millie from gushing in adoration; a girl at heart, she had a girl's avid interest in anything cute. She held her palms out at it to take it into her arms, and the thing seemed to sniff at her, as a dog might a stranger. "Come here, I won't hurt you."

With a call of "Haro!" punctuating its movement, the thing bounced into the offered hands. It wasn't heavy, but if not anything else it sure was _talkative_.

"Hello? Haro, Haro! Lux! Athrun! Kira! Haro!"

"Wow, you're pretty long-winded. I wonder, what's your name?"

"Haro? Haro, Haro!"

"Did you say 'Haro'?" She was cheerfully echoed by the toy. "Oh, okay, so you're called Haro. Well, Haro, I'm Millie and I'm pleased to meet you."

"Millie?"

"Yes, 'Millie'. My name is Millie."

"Haro! Millie! Millie!"

"Very good, Haro!"

"Noisy," Rune murmured as way of comment.

The look on the younger girl's face was pure rapture. "Can I keep him?" Millie asked.

"Pardon me?" For the first time ever in her life the Grim Reaper of Hao looked like she had been caught off guard, not an easy thing to do.

"Can I keep him, Miss Rune? He's so small and happy and cute! I've never had anything like it, so can I keep him? Can I?"

A sweat drop began its perceptibly slow slide down Rune's forehead. "Uh– I guess so."

"Really? Hooray!" Millie began an impromptu dance jig, annoying the hell out of Marco but coming close to making Rune smile.

"For God's sake, stop prancing around, girl!"

The chastisement got Millie to stop but still keep on grinning sheepishly. Marco was not pleased; even less so with Haro cheerfully harping away at him with insulting words.

"Marco _no baka, Marco _no baka_! __Baka, baka!"_

"Why, that–" He made a move towards the chirruping toy, his murderous intentions all too evident.

Concerned for her new pet's safety, Millie hugged Haro closer to her and took a step back towards what she hoped was safety. "Haro, don't say bad words," she half-heartedly scolded.

Rune smoothly slid between them in a protective pose. She gave her nemesis a cool glance of unconcern. "Aren't we a little touchy today, Marco?"

"Out of the way, Minor. There's a certain little mechanical runt who deserves an overhaul."

"I don't think so."

The two stared at each other, Marco furious, Rune calm. Millie feared that they might just start a fight, so she began to suggest: "Uh, guys–"

"Haro!" squeaked the red Haro in her arms.

"HARO!" answered a chorus of similar piping voices.

And then suddenly there was no time to react, save for Marco turning his head to stare at the source of the new chirrups and an oath cut off–

"What the–"

–Before a hundred Haro poured out of nowhere and crashed into him.

Rune was reminded of a breaking dam. Of course the torrent unleashed in this case was not water but variously colored Haro bouncing and bounding all over Marco, his swear words fortunately cut off by the multitude of tiny voices all clamoring for attention. There was a flash of white amidst the wave of Haro: The X-Laws' arm, trying to find purchase to haul his body up. The Haro didn't let him get that chance, wisely collecting into a noisy pile right on top of him.

"Haro!"

"Hello! Hello, hello?"

"Lux! Lux!"

"Athrun!"

"Kira!"

"Kagari!"

"Don't want to! Don't want to!"

"Marco _no baka!"_

"_Baka, baka!" they all chorused._

A sweat drop popped out upon Millie's cute forehead. "_A-Anou…"_

In her arms the red Haro chipped in: "Romancers! Rione!" All the Haro chorused their reply: "Romancers! Romancers!"

"Who is that supposed to be?"

"Lyserg Jeanne! Lyserg Jeanne!" Haro chirped innocently.

Beside the young X-Laws, Rune's eyes went blank.

She was given her name for a reason. In ancient druidic lore, runes were special words and markings of great power. They tapped into the vast expanse of natural energy that was life all around them and used them to call forth magic. One of these mystic powers was what Rune called Sight, the capacity to see the Unseen, the mysterious and the invisible. Her own gift of Sight was once quite strong until she took on the mantle of the Grim Reaper. Death and Life could not coexist, and so for this new power Rune sacrificed almost all of her old life. Even so, a sprinkling of Sight was still hers to command: Magic can never be destroyed or lost; it only takes on new form.

She saw clearly through the haziness of the future: Lyserg and Jeanne in their solitude together. Then the girl in black, the girl who smiled quietly yet menacingly upon the image of the lovers, heard the word "Show time, Romancers," and felt the turmoil in time that was about to unfold, a crisis that centered not on Lyserg and Jeanne but –surprisingly– upon her and–

Millie nearly jumped in surprise when Rune roughly grabbed her by the arm and pulled her down after her through the corridor's length. Fortunately the swarm of Haro did not move to stop them but instead continued making Marco's life miserable; as if that had been the only purpose they had in mind. It was enough to generate a thought: _Does everybody__ in the world hate Marco that_ much?__

"Miss Rune, what's wrong?"

"We have to hurry! Lyserg and Jeanne are in danger!"

"What?"

"Haro! Danger, danger! Lyserg Jeanne!"

"But how? I mean–"

"There's no time to lose! We have to get to the Iron Maiden's side at once!" Rune was grim as she fairly flew down the corridor and up the stairs, Millie doing her best to catch up. "I only hope the others are safe…"

Vincent Granger peeked around the corner of her hiding spot and was rewarded with a chirrup of "Haro!" before a beam of light smacked a few inches into the concrete wall over her head. Immediately the redhead ducked back without even trying to retaliate, contenting herself with curses while thinking of a way to get out of this mess.

She had been jumped by a dozen Haro only a few minutes earlier. Vincent had not been impressed with the jabbering toys –until one, then all the others, had started shooting laser beams at her. That sent her scooting into cover and returning the occasional shot from her rifle, but she was outnumbered and outgunned and having trouble just keeping them at arm's length.

She just hated the things. One of the damnable Haro had scored a glancing hit upon her shoulder. Vincent was still numb in that place, though luckily the beams seemed to be non-lethal. _Set the phasers to stun, __Data, the American unhappily thought, remembering the _Star Trek_ movies she used to watch. And the worst part was that the colorful critters were cheerful even as they attacked. It was unnerving to be the target of a volley of lasers while you could hear childish voices squeaking nonsensical rhymes._

"Bloody hell," Vincent muttered as she prepared to summon her angel Israfel and start some real fighting. "I just wish the others are doing better than I am…"

When the first of the Haro rolled its way into the middle of the reception area, Drake Malloy had not paid it much attention. So did the rest of the people in the spacious room, thinking it was some sort of ploy on the part of the hotel or a child's toy that had somehow gotten lost.

The gentle hiss that stood out despite the noise and ruckus told Drake that something was wrong. By now ten Haro had appeared, and a fine mist was spreading from them and all across the room. Drake had once been a soldier –a member of Her Majesty's Royal Marines– and when people began to waver drunkenly before falling to the floor as if sandbags, he instinctively knew something was wrong. As it was, he managed to escape before the potent sleeping gas could do much more than slow him down. The same could not be said about the rest of the people in the room, now in a fitful slumber.

As Drake pounded his way towards the room of the Iron Maiden –who else but she could be the target?– he fervently hoped that it wasn't this bad for all of his other companions…

The first warning that Maestro received was when nearly a hundred minds dropped out of their active thoughts and into deep slumber: The people in the reception room taking a quick if unplanned nap. The psychic was genuinely surprised, and even more so when he detected Vincent and Drake's tension-filled minds.

It was an attack, no doubt of it. Why he had not detected it even before it had started was of concern to Maestro, but he could deal with that later. He had to react. There was only one real possible target, as Drake had already decided: Iron Maiden Jeanne.

Fine. If Hao or his minions had decided to take another crack at her, fine. The X-Laws –and Maestro– would teach them the error of their action.

"Haro?"

Maestro inclined his helmeted head to look at the tiny figure lolling at his feet. It was colored yellow and was exceedingly chirpy. It also exactly resembled the absurd-looking attackers that Vincent and Drake had encountered.

"Haro, Haro. Maestro?"

He had not detected it. That meant only one thing: The attacks were mechanical, immune to being detected by a psychic due to the simple fact that they didn't have any mind to speak of. Clever, Maestro allowed, as he charged up his psychic power to destroy it before it could think to shoot him with its laser.

Then there was another Haro, and four more, all surrounding him. All but one flew into the air and took positions around and above Maestro. The one Haro that had not moved glowed brightly and began emanating energy that reached towards its flying brethren, forming a translucent diamond-shaped cell that enveloped the psychic's armored form.

Maestro blasted the barrier –what else could it be?– and was not surprised when his psychic force was handily stopped by the pinkish force field. All the while the Haro were singing in their silly way. Formidable, but silly.

In the back of his mind, he was wondering who came up with the idea to color an energy shield a shade of pink…

"Wow. I owe Lux big time for lending me all her Haro. That girl's got some affinity for pink: Her hair is pink, her favorite Haro is pink, even her own battleship is pink. No wonder the beam shield is pink as well. Think I'll have a word with October after this."

So saying, the girl in black slipped through the door and to the business at hand.

They had not even noticed the faint footfalls of the intruder. They had only each other in their minds and hearts and arms. It was a wonderfully pleasant feeling to have someone to hold on to in the darkest of days; it was wonderful to have an anchor of safety, the better to keep one from being helplessly adrift in the storms that inundate the sea that is life. They loved each other so much that they could hardly care what happened to the rest of the world, only that they would be safe and sound and with each other.

The first inkling that something was wrong was when Lyserg felt a familiar touch across his cheek: Morphine. The fairy knew well never to interrupt her master when in one of these touching moments, except if it was very important. Nevertheless the dowser stiffened at that unwelcome gesture, wondering what the hell was it that Morphine would bother him while he was with Jeanne in this loving moment.

In his arms the fair-haired girl he treasured so much was brought out of her sad reverie when she felt him go rigid at the interruption. One eye came open and a crimson pupil regarded with puzzlement the antics of the winged pixie that hovered before them, even as her beloved's own pair of green globes flashed.

"Morphine!" Lyserg's temper showed in the way he regarded the 'wayward' spirit. "What on earth is it?"

Jeanne watched Morphine carefully as the latter conveyed her message. The fairy could not talk like a normal person; only dowsers like Lyserg could understand the fey folk's mysteriously silent language. The Iron Maiden, however, was very good at reading people's emotions and feelings, and could plainly see that Morphine was perturbed about something. Not to her surprise, she found Lyserg suddenly looking grim.

"What? What do you mean: Intruders? Here? Are you sure?"

The redhead fairy nodded emphatically and added something else. As she spoke, Jeanne felt Lyserg's arms around her take on a protective touch.

"What's going on, Lyserg? What's the problem"

"Jeanne-_chan, we have to get you out of here. Someone's attacking the hotel, and it's not safe for you here right now."_

"What?"

Suddenly all that had been the past year she lived came back to sweep Jeanne up in its horror. She remembered vividly how her X-Laws had fought and killed and died for her. Every single one of them: Porf, Venstar, Larch, Cebin, Denbat and Meene.

And though she did not show it –she was the Iron Maiden; she was not privy to such human fears– Jeanne still had nightmares about that final battle, nightmares about all the other nights, nightmares that were the mind-numbing pain that was the Iron Maiden's cross to bear.

_Oh, Lyserg…_

And then he was pulling her up now, coaxing her onto her feet and asking her to follow him. All the while Jeanne was silently praying that none of what she feared would happen.

Fate had caught up with her yet again…

To Lyserg and Jeanne's utter surprise, a flock of pigeons suddenly flew into the room courtesy an open window, a cloud of gray and blue that whirled once around them before hightailing it outside again.

"That was weird," the perplexed Lyserg said in what was obviously a gross understatement.

Snappy footsteps resounded with the room, bringing them to face the intruder without. Lyserg had protectively positioned himself in front of Jeanne, the better to shield her from whatever horror approached.

What came was nothing like they ever expected in their entire lives.

"Mr. Diethyl. Surprised to see me?"

The speaker was dressed in elegantly black clothes and wore dark Police sunglasses. Her black hair matched her favored apparel. About the only thing that was not black about her was her skin of healthy golden brown hue, the rosy lips that were strangely without the usual lipstick women adorn themselves with, and the slight line of even white teeth in her smile.

She was also a girl. A pretty cute one, at that.

Though Lyserg had expected something far worse –a hostile renegade Shaman or an entire army of them– there was something about this girl that gave him pause. "Who are you?" he demanded. "And what are you doing here?"

To his surprise the girl grinned. "That's the same question all of them ask all the time."

And then for no real reason at all save that she wanted to know and had suspicions, Jeanne suddenly asked:

"Are you the one who sent the pigeons?"

The girl frowned at that. "Damn," she growled under her breath, arms akimbo in annoyance at herself. "Just when you think your entrance is perfect, something comes up."

Lyserg, Jeanne and Morphine stared.

The girl caught them looking at her as if she had sprouted a second head in mid-rant, blinked, and then –to their surprise– broke into embarrassed laughter.

"Ah, well, I guess I did. Actually, I was aiming for crows, but the R&D department ran out of stocks recently. They haven't gotten replacements yet, as far as I know, so I had to improvise. Sort of like _Mission__ Impossible 2."_

This prattle earned her even more bewildered stares, making her blush and begin fiddling with her fingers nervously while chuckling like silly.

"Aren't you supposed to attack us or something?" Lyserg sarcastically asked.

"Uh, well, yeah," she confessed. "But you got me all messed up and confused, so just give me a moment to contemplate, okay?" So saying, the girl began tapping her forehead with a finger while screwing up a most concentrated look.

Both Iron Maiden and dowser came close to sweat-dropping like in those anime on television.

Suddenly her fingers snapped, and the girl exclaimed: "Now I remember!" Grinning she pointed at Jeanne. "If you don't mind, can I borrow Miss Jeanne for a while?"

The looks on their faces –Jeanne's and Lyserg's– were of complete disconcertment –and confusion.

"WHAT?"

"Uh, okay, let me rephrase that: Can I _please_ borrow Miss Jeanne for a while?"

"NO!" That was Lyserg, understandably vociferous regarding that matter. Behind him, Jeanne was uncharacteristically blushing like mad, something she learned from her object of affection.

Sighing, the girl shrugged. "Oh, well. If you won't lend her voluntarily," and then her admittedly cute face sported a resigned look, "I'm going to have to take her through force."

Lyserg got into his battle pose. "Let's see you try it," he said in warning tones. "Morphine!"

At once the fairy flew to her master's beckon. The dowsing crystal that was his weapon glowed bright and lifted from his gloved hand, wavering in mid-air like a snake ready to strike. Almost faster than the eye could follow, the young X-Laws lashed out, the pendant spearing towards his opponent, the latter making no effort to dodge and instead raising an open palm to face the projectile speeding her way, a futile gesture–

–Until the pendant came to a stop a bare inch before her hand.

"What the–"

The girl sidestepped the pendant and came directly for him. Lyserg commanded his weapon to snap backwards in an attempt to nail his target, but then the girl suddenly jumped into the air and actually _hovered_ there for one long indeterminable moment, like some sort of unnatural crane poised before him…

That was when she kicked him.

Lyserg went flying and hit the floor hard.

The worried Jeanne ran to his side, even as he tried to get up. "Lyserg!"

"Damn." Luckily he didn't feel wounded or anything, though his head did throb a bit.

Interestingly the girl was not actively going after him. In fact she seemed _apologetic; the look in her eyes obviously a sign of compassion. "I didn't mean to hit you that hard," she admitted._

Much to Jeanne's growing fright, Lyserg got up. "Well, _I_ mean to," he said, preparing to attack again.

"Look, we can be as unpleasant as we can be right now, I know that." She held her hands before her in a gesture of concession. "But honestly, bashing you around won't earn me any extra points. You aren't my targets, anyway. I'd rather do this without all the messy fighting as much as I can."

The green-haired dowser raised his arm again for another strike.

"Tell you what." She seemed quite willing to talk some more, even if it left her open for an attack. "If I promise to take care of Jeanne while she's with me, will you let me take her?"

There was fire in his emerald eyes. "I will never let anyone take Jeanne away." Lyserg focused all of his will and strength. "I won't let you!"

The horror had come back to envelope her in its dark embrace, a shadowy mass attracted to her light. It was happening yet again. The fighting, the bloodshed that was inevitable, all in her name and the name of humanity.

And it was all because of her.

It was her fault.

It was the fault of a lie.

And then the girl came to look at her, huddled behind the boy she loved, and an unspoken message –much like between Morphine and Lyserg– passed.

_If you come with me, perhaps you can sleep in peace at last._

"What?"

_Do you want to know if you are the truth or the lie?_

"I-I don't know what you're talking about…"

_If you want to live as Jeanne D'Arc, then come with me._

A door unlocks itself when presented with a key. So did Jeanne's stricken heart, for no reason at all save that there was hope to be had in this promise, however vague and impossible it seemed.

Rione Asuka Hunter waited as the pendant came at her for a final attack.

"Lyserg!"

The shining lethal point froze.

Jeanne was breathing hard now, her entire frail-looking body heaving with every ragged frightened breath she took. She was pale and shaking and totally unlike the image of the Iron Maiden that he had come to know–perhaps because this was not the Iron Maiden who stood between them, but simply Jeanne D'Arc.

The pendant was only a hair's breadth away from her face.

A icy pit was forming itself within Lyserg's heart. "Jeanne-_chan_…"

"Please, Lyserg, please stop this." She was pleading for all it was worth, even as she was terrified for herself and for him. "Don't fight anymore, don't fight. I'm not worth it."

_Please, my love…_

Her eyes were in tears. "A lie is not worth it."

_"Shigau!" The angry way he spat his denial showed just how much he was affronted by the way she simply accused herself. "You're not a lie, Jeanne-__chan! You're as much truth as any one of us!" His use of the affectionate term they had just earlier agreed upon was all the more painful; it underlined just how much she meant to him._

_And I love you!_

"But I myself don't know," quietly answered Jeanne, bringing him to a halt. "I don't know that yet.

_Even though I love you…_

"Peace has come to the world, but it still eludes me. I can touch it when I'm with you, but without you I am so desolate. I blame myself for every one of you who died and all those who died for me and because of me. I can never make you understand how important it is or how painful it is–" _I can't even admit it to you, of all people, the one I love! _"–But I'm asking that you let me know it at last!

"I want to know, Lyserg. I want to know what the truth is. I can't bear living with myself if I don't know." Her pain was all too evident in her very words. "I can't even bring myself to love you as I should!"

That stopped him cold. "Jeanne…"

"Forgive me." She was crying freely now. "Please bring yourself to forgive me. Because," her voice broke, yet she managed to murmur, "Because I can't forgive myself. Not yet."

With all of her strength and will, even though the very thought of it pained her far beyond the physical torment within the casket that was once her mantle, Jeanne forced herself to turn away from Lyserg –the person she loved so much– and towards the girl in black. "_Onegai,_" she murmured, before weariness like no other claimed her. _"Salva nos."_

_Please._

_Save us._

Jeanne toppled forward, unconscious.

"JEANNE!"

Rione caught her as she fell. The dark-haired girl smiled sadly as she cradled her new ward. "Finding peace will be a difficult path for you, friend," she whispered, "But you're mistaken if you think you walk alone."

She glanced at where Lyserg stood, frustrated, frozen by her very devotion to the Iron Maiden that he could not come to her aid because she had wished it so. The young leader of the X-Laws could not –would not– move.

No. He loved Jeanne too much.

"No," mysteriously finished Rione. "You don't walk alone."

The door burst open, Rune flying into the room like Lady Death given wings and come from the abyss to battle, her still-asleep weapon at the ready to reap whatever soul need be. Behind her was the young X-Laws who stood in the shadow of her late sister, ash-blonde Millie already drawing her Colt even as her free hand cradled the red Haro that had come unto her possession just a while ago. Their target was the girl in black who held the Iron Maiden within her arms.

"No."

The two, Grim Reaper and X-Laws, came to a halt. Such was the command inspired by their leader; such was their belief in him that they went against their ingrained philosophies and mindsets in order to comply with his command.

Lyserg stared at this dark-clad waif who had so easily taken away his beloved. There was no anger in his eyes and neither hate; only resignation and a deep anguish that struck at his counterpart like no other blow could. For all that she stood for railed against the sorrow of this boy: Her ideals were all that she had, really, and right now…

"Leave. Now. While you can."

The girl nodded respectfully. "Take care of them, Haro," she told the crimson toy in Millie's arm, strangely quiet for once. "I'll bring her back, safe and sound." Strangely she gave Rune a meaningful glance, one that the Grim Reaper returned coldly and was answered with a slight smile.

Then she seemed to crouch to the ground in one fluid motion, and the floor beneath her rippled as if water.

And then she was flying, out of the window, doing what she called in happier times 'her Superman thing', the unconscious Jeanne D'Arc held tightly in her arms.

_"You don't have to worry, Lyserg. I'll keep her safe. And this is not just for her; it's for your friend's sake, and for the one she's meant for."_

In her arms, Jeanne slept, for once free of the nightmares that plagued her every night. A voice whispered once with her heart, a voice beckoning and soft and homely, much like Lyserg's:

Les mains noires protëgent la paix des nouveaux-nès.

Tired beyond any physical brink, Lyserg sagged to his knees, his pendant falling down to rest upon the floor. Millie made a move towards him, but Rune held her back.

"He needs this time alone. Let him be."

And despite the depth of her love for him –or perhaps because of it– Millie forced herself to stay put.

Love can kill a person; can break him or her into not even a shadow of his or her former self.

There was a glint of light upon his cheeks, reflected off the salty water that now streamed down from his eyes like he had never let them before. Not even his parents' death, not his comrades' demise –not even Meene's death bore compare to his loss tonight.

He had lost the girl he loved, the one person who made it all right.

Lyserg Diethyl wept.

**Sheo's Notes:** From a comedy perspective to a somber one, all in just one chapter. I kidnap Jeanne and made Lyserg cry, too. The only redeeming factor I put in was when Marco got clobbered. Man, the other ManKin writers and readers –especially the LysJea couplers and the fan girls– are so going to kill me…

Sorry for my long absence! I hope this latest chapter will suffice as appeasement. For those who might be wondering about some of the odd additions in my story, I'll make a short round-up right now.

First off: Haro is from the original Gundam SEED. It's a small ball-like robot that chatters like a toddler and serves as a pet. The names mentioned in passing (Lux Clyne, Kira Yamato, Ashran Zara and Kagari Yura Asuha) belong to characters also in Gundam SEED.

Next: The quote _Salva Nos and Les mains noires protëgent la paix des nouveaux-nès are bot lifted from the anime Noir. The first is Latin for 'Save us' while the second is French and has various translations approximating to "The black hands that cover the green fields protect the peace of the newborns."_

There is also a single Star Trek reference. Self-explanatory, really, so much that I wonder why I bothered noting it here. Also, I'll elaborate on Jeanne's nightmares much more fully in later chapters.

Finally: Rione Asuka Hunter is an original character, but as you've noticed her moves and some of her remarks are very familiar. Yes, she has the powers of 'The One'. This was originally a concept to parody the Matrix. May the Wachowsky brothers forgive me.

Finally, Chapter Seven will come out sometime in the first month of next year. I express my apologies for the delay. Please read and review.

Oh, and to Fluffychans and JSF and Joal Asakura, and to all my fellow ManKin writers: "_Maligayang Pasko at manigong Bagong Taon!_ Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!"

                                                                                                                                       Sheo Darren


	8. Seven: Sayonara, Solitaire

**Disclaimer:** After about two months stuck in a comatose state (a state brought by the realization that whatever I do, somehow _hentai_ will always mess with my favorite anime characters) and a month of writer's block as far as Shaman King is concerned, I've finally recovered and has now posted the latest chapter of this fan fiction. And yes, I still don't own ManKin; I merely own my created characters.

Cheers. After three months, I'm back.

This chapter is dedicated to the girl who was once JSF and the girl who calls herself Jess-_chan_. May more fan fiction ideas flow continuously from them and continue to delight all of us readers.

**-**

**Previously, on "The Romancers"...**

A swarm of Haro backing her up, Rione Asuka Hunter finally makes her move. Torn by dreams that could never be brought to rest, Jeanne makes a faithful decision to go with the mysterious interloper, breaking Lyserg's heart like never before. Will the two star-crossed lovers ever meet again? Will Lyserg fan girls and LysJean fans ever forgive me for making our favorite moody dowser cry?

**-**

**The Romancers**

**Set One: Shaman King**

**By: Sheo Darren**

**Iron Maiden and Dowser Knight**

**-**

**Chapter Six: Sayonara Solitaire**

**-**

The almost-suffocating air of depression that hung as a pall upon the room was enough to halt anyone who entered, even one as angry as Marco was.

Italians were known for their seductive earthiness, but Marco Testarossa was more of a Sicilian: Easy to befriend but just as easily driven to enmity, outwardly collected but inwardly burning, a memory that forgot nothing, especially grudges. Meene had once compared him to the famous Mount Vesuvius of his homeland, an apt description save that Marco was far more volatile than the historic volcano.

Especially concerning a certain girl with sky gray mane who was almost his daughter.

When Rione had made her escape, it had been the signal for all of the Haro to break off from their respective targets and make their exits. The exceptions were the hundred Haro tasked to take on Marco: They had all as one unit bounced upon the X-Laws they were immobilizing –about half a dozen times per Haro– chorused one last "Marco_ no baka,_" as a parting insult and prudently vanished.

Yes. Everyone, even Haro, hated Marco.

Thus, Marco was not happy when he entered the room. He was bad enough when in a good mood, and scary when annoyed. To see him angry was a sight one would never forget; indeed, it would be literally branded into the witnesses' mind, the sheer vitriolic rampage of a man pushed too far. That is, it would be if Marco didn't kill you first, of course.

But his anger dissipated almost immediately into uncertainty as he literally ran smack into the dejected atmosphere of the room, as if melancholy was a wall and Marco had literally bumped into it. Thus, confused and unsure, he ground to a halt and regarded his teammates and leader with hesitation.

The most immediately noticeable example would easily have been Rune Minor, leaning beside the door when Marco entered but who did not even try to shoot a cold glance as way of greeting. That told Marco how grave the situation was. His archrival would never miss an opportunity to needle him, not for the world or for anything. The detestation between Marco and Rune was legendary; it had survived the demise of Asakura Hao and continued into the reconstituted X-Laws, a rivalry that wasn't too healthy for all concerned. Yet there she was, ignoring him in a way as if he never existed or had entered the room, withdrawing into whatever fortress it was that was her thoughts.

The same despondence was evident in the others. Usually a hyperactive kid who sometimes had trouble standing still, Millie was right now burrowed into one of the bedroom's comfortable armchairs, quietly seated there while she cradled her new pet, her eyes troubled and locked upon a spot of the floor from where her stare never moved. Her red Haro, the only one that had stayed behind, rocked back and forth gently in its mistress arms but forwent its usual chatter, certainly a striking change for the talkative toy.

But perhaps the most poignant reminder was of the youth who was dowser and X-Laws leader, the boy who stood before the vacated bed, staring at the spot where only minutes earlier he had been with the girl he loved, serene and contented. He stood still, not moving because he could not bring himself to do so, his inner being so torn apart that he wondered if he would ever be whole again like before. The gloved hand containing the dowsing crystal clasped tightly upon itself, trying to contain within it all of his sorrow. Trying –and failing.

Emerald eyes had stopped crying, but the heart and soul of Lyserg Diethyl still wept with the same strength.

And the frightening realization that came to Marco just then was that nowhere beside him or near Lyserg was Iron Maiden Jeanne D'Arc.

When Jeanne awakened at last from her faint, she found herself lying upon the soft cushions of a large bed, within a small but homely room. Cool fresh mountain air drifted into the room through the open windows. It was evening now.

She had no idea why the name Relena Peacecraft and the words Endless Waltz suddenly came into mind. She did have a vague feeling that this had all happened before –or at least, it had all happened before with the Relena girl she was thinking of– and that about this moment, someone would ask–

"Did you get a good night's sleep?"

The girl who called herself Rione Asuka Hunter flashed her 'captive' a welcome grin from where she stood in the doorway. "And now you're supposed to say: 'If you think I'm going to ask if you were captured too, you're wrong.'"

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Jeanne said levelly. Not to her surprise, her evenly-toned reply made Rione embarrassed for no immediately apparent reason.

"Okay, joke's on me. I should quit quoting other people and comparing them to the situation at hand." The beginnings of a blush were on the dark-haired girl's cheeks. "Soweee."

Sitting herself upon the bed now, Jeanne noticed that her 'kidnapper' seemed to look different. Then she realized the latter had a new change of clothes on: A big white tee-shirt reaching down to her hips and which had 'Romancers' printed on it paired with short pants. Certainly a large magnitude of difference from the all-black trousers, blouse, trench coat and Police shades she wore earlier.

Noticing the object of Jeanne's interest, Rione was even more embarrassed. "Hey, just because I wear black doesn't mean all my clothes are black." She began fiddling with her fingers again, a habit she digressed into whenever nervous or self-conscious. "I only wear black on the job. It helps impress the clientele in my line of work."

Just as levelly as before, Jeanne noted: "You line of work is kidnapping people for ransom?"

Rione looked horrified by the accusation. "No! I mean, it's the last resort we ever take! And we don't really kidnap people! We never even think of ransom! Honest!"

"I'd assume that I went along with you willingly?"

"Um, yeah…"

Jeanne raised an eyebrow judgmentally. Rione fidgeted under the scrutiny of those seemingly all-seeing crimson eyes.

And then the Iron Maiden began to chuckle.

"I guess you're right," brightly admitted the fair-haired girl, amused at her awkward 'captor' who was no captor at all and as much a captive as she was. When Rione broke into a sigh before joining the laughter, Jeanne was reminded of Millie, who was just as cute and self-conscious and cheerful as this girl.

And that was why Jeanne was here: Because Rione was not like any kidnapper she had seen before. She didn't fit the usual profile. She had asked for Jeanne to come with her; not exactly politely or well-phrased, but she did ask. Rione did not attack at all, and when she did defend herself she was careful not to hurt Lyserg very much. She kept on trying to convince them to let her take Jeanne even when it was pointless simply because talking just might work. And she had promised to help Jeanne resolve her private troubles.

And most of all, Rione was sad to see Lyserg unhappy.

Only a person innately good could be all of those. Rione was a good person, and that was why Jeanne trusted her.

"Do you mind telling me where we are, or you'd rather keep it secret?"

"Why'd I keep our location secret? I'm not a kidnapper, remember?" Rione was back to her usually happy state. "Not that Lyserg and company would be able to reach us just now. Heck, it takes even me some time to fly here without any passenger. I think I nearly got us lost about twice going here.

"Anyway, we're inside this nice cabin in the beautiful country of New Zealand, about a couple hours trek from where they shot _The Lord of the Rings_ movies. The air is clean, the water tastes good, and here in New Zealand the cows eat fresh green grass and from their milk comes Anchor Milk."

Jeanne blinked. She didn't understand that last part.

"Sorry for that. Vague joke only we Filipinos who watched the Anchor Milk commercial from some time ago will understand."

"I see." It was apparent her new friend had an eccentric sense of humor. "Is this your home?"

"Nah, I don't really live here. The house belongs to a friend of one of my coworkers. Just a while off, she got married to the coworker of mine I told you about, and they're off on their honeymoon to the Lunar Terraform Project resort. They won't be back for some time."

"Lunar Terraform Project? What is that? I've never heard of any such project."

Rione blinked and then looked embarrassed again. "Oops. I kind of forgot to tell you. Jeanne, promise to be calm and try to understand what I'm going to say."

"Yes." She was curious what this was all about.

"Well, for starters, we're not in your dimension any more."

It was Jeanne's turn to blink. "I don't understand."

"I had the feeling you didn't. It's a bit hard to explain, but simply stated, your time and world is just one dimension out of many. There are countless separate dimensions aside from yours, dimensions that have different timelines and peoples and civilizations. A multiverse or multiple universe, if you will."

"We're no longer on Earth?"

"We _are_ on Earth. Just a different Earth from yours, that is. This world we're in? The timeline here is After Colony 203, far off into the future. What's the difference here? This place's got space colonies and particle beam weapons and Gundams."

"Isn't that an anime? The Gundams, I mean?" Jeanne vaguely remembered that Millie liked to watch a show called Gundam Seed. The young X-Laws was a devoted fan of Athrun Zara.

"Well, yes, or at least in your world." Coughing because she herself was getting confused, Rione bravely went on. "A piece of friendly advice: I'd pick another topic to discuss. The entire concept of the multiverse might just be too much for you."

Although she was very much interested in all that she had just learned, Jeanne decided that it was wise to follow Rione's advice. "One thing," she did ask, a question that troubled her. "Where is God here?"

"Eh?"

"Where is God?" Her crimson eyes were honestly interested; the idea was the foundation of her existence as the Iron Maiden. "Where is God in this multiverse concept of yours, then?"

"Within us." Rione smiled meaningfully. "It's the only place He could be."

She was quiet for a while, reflective. "I'm sorry for prodding you too much."

"Nah, it's all right. Let's find some other topic to talk about. The entire multiverse thing also gets to me every now and then, you know."

"All right." Jeanne thought for a while of the things she wanted to know. The words printed on Rione's tee-shirt then got to her.

_Romancers_, it said. _Romancers._

"Rione?"

"Yeah?"

"You keep mentioning your job, but I don't know what it is. It's not kidnapping, right? What is your job, then?"

"Oh. My job?" She grinned flamboyantly. "I'm a Romancer."

"A Romancer?"

"Yeah. Long story, but it's worth it. Want to hear what we're all about?"

"Why not?"

Smiling gaily, Rione went on to tell a story: A story of a Frenchman who wrote a love story, of a young Filipino writer who took inspiration from that story in order to make his own, of the three friends who bore both stories to heart and deed, and of the famous group that was born out of those three friends' lives.

The story of the Romancers...

The absence of the girl who was his Mistress and his daughter at the same time sent a wave of chill throughout Marco's whole being, a chill he had never felt before. Even at the very footsteps of Death in the hands of Asakura Hao, this kind of fear had never come in such force as it did now, sweeping through him in force as a tidal wave would clear away everything in its way.

It was fear, indeed, fear for the girl with fair locks of blue-grey and orbs of deep cherry who was the child he never could have.

He was afraid for Jeanne D'Arc, his darling little Jeanne, his Iron Maiden.

Lyserg found himself being roughly hauled up by Marco to face level, eye to eye with the burning blue-eyed demon who had cast away all regrets and concerns in the light of the reality. It was fear driving Marco, a fear born out of anger, a fear all fathers know when their beloved child is in danger.

"How could you?"

He could not answer, would not meet those fiery eyes.

"How could you let Jeanne be taken away, Lyserg? How could you?"

He could not answer.

"Answer me, damn it!"

"How else?" Green eyes found blue eyes, pity against fury, grief contending grief. "How else could I, Marco?"

"What kind of answer is that?"

"How, Marco? What else would the answer be?"

"Answer me! Tell me the answer!"

"That is the answer!" The boy was yelling now, not angry, not furious, but yelling all the same. "The answer is the same: How else could I let go of Jeanne-_chan_? Tell me that, Marco! Tell me that!

"Tell me how I could have let her go," he asked.

Marco's hands fell away then. The young dowser was barely standing, wishing he could fall down into an abyss of fire and brimstone as punishment for his failure. Yet somehow there was strength in him to continue on, to continue living on…

… Even without her…

"The answer," he said quietly, "Is if she told me to let her go."

Unable to refute the truth, driven by the fear coursing within him like wildfire, Marco could only look away.

Once upon a time, there was a man named Edmund Rostand. A Frenchman with the sense of noble romance all proper Frenchmen possess in abundance, he was a dreamer and playwright, writer of love stories. One day, he wrote a story about a boy and a girl who loved each other but who belonged to families that were the bitterest of enemies –or maybe not. The result was a story called _The Romancers,_ a comedy and romance all at the same time. Because of this and other works, he became famous in literary circles, his works read by generations into the future…

Once upon a time, there was a young man who went by the penname of Sheo Darren. A Filipino with the adaptive fertility of the imagination that was the gift of God to all authors, he was a writer of fiction by hobby. One day, he was read for his English term exam a story called _The Romancers._ Piqued by the entertaining tale of two young people madly in love despite their feuding families –a feud that was not all it seemed– he conceived a story of his own, a story that bore the same title as the play, a story about three friends who would fight for love in a world that lacks it…

Once upon a time, there were three friends: Rune Minor, a cheery go-getter illusionist; Drake Western, a reservedly compassionate swordsman; and Fine Horizon, the charmingly diplomatic group manager. One day, while searching in old archives of tales from The Forgotten Past, they came upon a story called _The Romancers_. Inspired by the story of two lovers sundered yet united by their Fate, the three friends swore to uphold the ideals of romance in a world that had forgotten what it was like to be in love. They took the name of the story as the name of their group, and marked themselves forever in history and legend as those who fought for love.

They were The Romancers.

We are the Romancers.

_The Romancers are we._

_We are only human_

_But we can dream, can't we?_

_We are all forever Romancers._

_In bright splendor love will live_

_In the gardens we have sown_

_That is what we truly believe_

_Amen._

"That is what we truly believe," Rione intoned quietly, her spiel finished, tucking in the fast-asleep Jeanne into the bed that would protect her from her nightmares. "Amen. Amen indeed…"

_It's because I love you so much_

_That's why we hurt each other_

They all turned, then, to face the voice that had murmured aloud, breaking the spell of stillness as the first ray of sunshine that comes with the dawn shines a path down to mankind lost below. A voice that had held until, seeing the silence that was a false peace, the song coming to her lips in a slow march, awakening the emotions that were suppressed.

_That's why we're confused_

_We put our cold cheeks close together_

_And our heart was thus born_

She sang now, touching upon each syllable with a special favor to its own, bringing words to life and reality one by one. Her voice slid into the rise and falls of the song as if it was truly at home there, finding within the lilt and tone and pitch all that she had been looking for. She sang and fell in love and was heartbroken and rose up again to find the love that was hers truly.

_I always want to see you at once_

_At any time I want_

_I love you so much, I'm driven mute_

She had never sung like this before, had kept it all hidden. She had seen no need to sing as she was singing now; she had thought it all a bit silly and immature, the things people thought of her. She had sung before, but she had not put her heart into it, fearing she would lose it forever should it be denied.

_I cannot put your kindness into words_

_Hold on to me, hold me tighter_

_I'll trust in your warm presence_

Yet now she knew she must sing. Now she sung so, if only to bring a passing promise of a true peace into the world, if only to hold everyone together for one flickering moment. Now she sung as she should sing, her heart playing out its own melody, revealing who she was to those around her –to that boy whom she loved and longed for.

_Farewell to loneliness_

_Towards tomorrow_

Millie came to a pause, then, sighing deeply, losing herself into the song, unaware that all around her Marco and Rune and especially Lyserg saw her in a new light, a light that was faint and distant and beautiful.

_Farewell to loneliness_

_Towards tomorrow_

"Farewell to loneliness… for I now turn towards tomorrow…"

She looked towards them, her friends, her teammates, towards the boy she loved. "For we must have hope," softly pleaded Millie at last. "We must have hope."

"And we will," Lyserg affirmed for all the rest. "We will have hope.

"We'll get Jeanne back."

**_-_**

**_Itutuloy_****_…_**

**-**

**Sheo's**** Thoughts: **I've only been able to find time to write ManKin again just now. Lots of things occupying my mind recently, and the Guilty Gear story I've been authoring, _The Wedding Night 2_ (sequel to the first _The Wedding Night_) demands weekly attention.

Anyway, here's a full list of disclaimers:

To those who have read my Gundam Wing fan fiction_ Reminiscent Memories_, the cabin and scene should be quite familiar as I had lifted it from there. Yes, the cabin is Quaterine Winner's, the one where she kept Relena in as a hostage. And the New Zealand joke? Well, if you're Filipino and at least fifteen or sixteen, you should have seen the commercial I made the joke about.

The multiverse thing? Just an explanation of how a girl with the powers of the one could jump into the Shaman King world, take Jeanne and bring her to the Gundam Wing world. Trust me: The idea's better left alone.

_The Romancers _is the play of Edmond Rostand, creator of _Cyrano de Bergerac_. I developed an original story based on the idea of _The Romancers_, taking the name of the said play as the title and basing the characters upon the Cardcaptor Sakura cast. This is where the character Rune Minor is supposed to appear.

As usual, I plead for reviews. I highly doubt this story will ever be flamed; it's just too cute, I guess. Plus, ManKin writers and readers are on the whole highly lovable. Me included as well, I guess.

Anyway, read, enjoy and review.


	9. Eight: Cameo

**Disclaimer:** The usual. We all know what disclaimers say.

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**Previously, on "The Romancers"...******

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            The previous chapter should have been in the Reminiscent Memories fan fiction of the Gundam Wing section or in a currently nonexistent Chrno Crusade section. The X-Laws are demoralized by the loss of Jeanne. The Iron Maiden learns a bit about Rione and the Romancers. And Millie reawakens everyone's will to live on with a song.

            _Sayonara solitaire… ashita ne…_

            This chapter is dedicated to **Person with many aliases**, usually stuck in the Guilty Gear archive but interested enough in my stories that he goes over to this section every now and then just to have something new to read. I am _so _good at converting people. Maybe I can convert him to favor a Bridget-May pairing. He sort of seems to be leaning in that particular direction lately ^_^.

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**The Romancers**

**Set One: Shaman King**

**By: Sheo Darren**

.

**Iron Maiden and Dowser Knight**

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**Chapter Eight: Cameo**

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            It was to the credit of the hitherto untested leadership skills of Lyserg Diethyl that preparations for the rescue of the Iron Maiden began as soon as the entire team was reassembled. It was his first mission as the leader of the X-Laws, and it was made doubly important by the fact that Jeanne was at stake.

Lyserg had no plan to fail.

Maestro had used his psychic power to scan the entire city of Tokyo. It was a taxing effort, but the psychic welcomed the challenge as his abilities had not been pressed very much in recent times. Predictably, Jeanne was nowhere nearby, verified by Vincent Granger's report of seeing the black-clad kidnapper flying off into the sky with the Iron Maiden in her arms.

"I've seen many odd things in my life," the still-incredulous American sniper admitted, "But seeing a real person fly just like Superman somehow unnerves me."

She was about to get more incredulous when she learned what her orders were.

"That's a waste of time and money." By her words, Vncent didn't mean their mission at hand, but what her companion Drake had just purchased: The full volume _manga_ sets of _Ultra-Maniac_, _Neon Genesis Evangelion_ and _Ragnarok__ Online_. The ex-Royal Navy Marine –a closet _anime_ and _manga_ collector, to the amusement of his peers– had been waiting quite a while for the right excuse to satisfy his hobby.

They were currently inside a bookstore, searching for maps and atlases of the world. Lyserg had not bothered for explanation aside from briefly saying it was crucial to the plan. That was that.

"I don't know what the matter with the world is. What on Earth do maps and atlases have to do with rescuing the Lady Maiden?" Vincent aimed a glare at the happy Drake receiving his new Japanese comic books. "And what does that porn stuff you buy have to do with it, too?"

"This is not _hentai_." The big Brit seemed insulted at Vincent's accusations. "You can read it yourself if you want to. They're pretty good, especially _Ultra-Maniac_."

Disbelieving, Vincent decided to take up the offer. It didn't seem bad. _Ultra-Maniac_ in particular looked very cute. It was when she caught sight of the _Eva_ merchandise that she recoiled like Dracula to the cross.

"You bought _Evangelion_? Sir Marco will scourge you and put you on bread and water for life if he ever catches you reading that!"

"I'm thirty-five years old and of legal age and mature standing. I can read _Evangelion_ if I want to."

"You don't get it Sir Marco thinks _Eva _is the work of the devil. He'd crucify you upside down if you so much admitted the existence of Hideaki Anno, much less say _Eva_ is cool."

"To tell the truth, Marco _does_ remind me of Gendo Ikari. They're both mean, they both have glasses, they both dislike the primary protagonist, and they take care of young girls." Then Drake grinned at her. "And you've got the nerve to say I'm an _otaku_ when you know who Hideaki Anno is."__

"And here I thought Millie was the only kid in the group," Vincent groaned a la Asuka. "I was horribly wrong…"__

                                                                                *         *         *

            Speaking of Millie, the ash-blonde girl was busily hacking into the umbrella of scientific and spy satellites in space. To the surprise of many who thought they knew her well, this cheerful kid was a hacker by hobby and an electronics genius to boot. She could also send Sakamoto Maaya running for her money.

Her red Haro pet proved invaluable in her search. The talkative toy was chock-full of microprocessors and had the equivalent computing power of several supercomputers. It was a simple matter to infiltrate the NSA/CIA/DoD/NASA computer systems and change the tasking of the orbiting spy machines. It was a far more difficult matter for the search to succeed.

Even with advanced technology on their side, finding a single target in the world –even one as extraordinary as a person flying unaided in the sky– was the equivalent of the proverbial needle in the haystack, albeit here the haystack was a hundred thousand times bigger and the needle just as small.

The decisive factor was luck, and Millie was hoping that it would work for them.

                                                                                *         *         *

            Rune had earlier left for parts unknown. No on but Marco and Lyserg seemed to know where she was going or what she was up to. But Lyserg underlined the importance of her mission: It was highly unlikely Maestro's psychic search and Millie's satellites would totally succeed. What was needed in the end was powerful magic, and in the X-Laws only Rune possessed such power.

Or, more accurately, she once possessed such power.

Embracing the dark costs far more in the end than what it offers in return. With Rune, it was her druidic heritage. As the Grim Reaper, she had given up Life for Death. She was no longer the right hand of Hao now, but the specter of her bloody past still hung upon her, keeping her from rising up as a phoenix reborn.

Life had not gone back into her, not yet.

She had gone back to find it.

                                                                                *         *         *

            For once and certainly not the last time, the final parts of Lyserg's plan relied on people outside the X-Laws. He had already contacted them. One had avidly agreed to sign up for the mission but was a bit… unreliable. The other was cool in reception but seemed interested, if not exactly agreeable to the entire idea.

It was wholly up to these two people whether or not the mission would succeed or fail.

So, Marco and Lyserg had nothing else to do but wait and talk about their plan.

"You do realize," the former was saying wearily as he sipped at a mug of hot chocolate –Marco disliked coffee as it made him edgy and therefore dangerous– "That we're relying solely on two separate people who may or may not do as they are asked to do, and so we put the life of the Lady Maiden in their hands?"

"They have very capable hands and good hearts. Otherwise, I would not ask them to help us."

"I can understand relying on the sorcerer –most magicians can be relied upon–, but this– this _pilot._" Marco said the word with distrust. "He sounds like an unreliable sort."

"He is." The slight smile on Lyserg's face made his former commander even more worried. "But he is a good person, whatever his failings are, and he is very skilled at what he does."

"Why not go to Tomoeda conventionally?"

"Speed is the key to our plans. Land routes are out of the question. Traffic will bog us down. The subways are too cramped and Maestro will attract too much attention in a heavily populated place. With my pilot friend's help, we can make it to Tomoeda in less than an hour and in secret."

"That is, considering we don't crash into a telephone pole in the process."

"You're being very pessimistic today, Sir Marco. What happened to the great Roman Lion that fought Hao to a standstill in the last battle?"

"Don't start on me, Lyserg. First it was that damn Minor being such a smart-ass, then Meene–"

There was a flash of pain in Lyserg's eyes which quickly vanished, but their effect lingered on visibly.

"Forgive me." Marco meant his apology. "Meene was a good person. She was very brave and loyal to us all."

"I still miss her," the boy said. He did not cry, but he was sad. "I still do."

It was then that a rather worn-looking Millie entered the room. Her face, however, was bright with a smile.

"We've got her. One of the KH-11 radar satellites over Oceania –the Australian area– got a touch on a human-sized object traveling at Mach 5 at 5,000 feet. The image has the NSA people bashing their heads against a wall in disbelief."

"Rione sure knows how to make a show," Lyserg wryly commented.

"The thing is," Millie continued, "Just about around New Zealand, she vanishes. Poof. No trace at all of where she went. The only thing that tells us something is that the satellites picked up a large spike of anomalous energy readings in the atmosphere, where Rione was last spotted. Then she's gone for good."

"Any guesses what she did?"

"Call me someone who reads too much _Magic Knight Rayearth,_ but I think she teleported somewhere else."

_"Plausible," _the telepathic voice of Maestro commented within their minds_. "The power of teleportation is not unknown, and it is not impossible that this kidnapper has this kind of ability."_

Lyserg shivered slightly, as did Millie and even Marco. Even though Maestro had been an X-Laws member for quite some time now, everyone still had to get used to the eerie way he psychically communicated with them. It was scary having a voice suddenly pop inside your head all of a sudden, no warning at all.

"But where did she teleport, then? To another part of the world?"

_"I highly doubt it. The level of power used by the kidnapper had to be tremendous in order for the satellites to pick it up. Therefore, we can guess that the distance involved is quite far."_

"Another planet?" Millie groaned at the thought. "Lyserg-_sama_, maybe we'd have better luck contacting Captain Jean Luc Picard than going with this pilot of yours…" _Scottie, beam us up…_

"There's no need for that," he answered rather amusedly. "The pilot is there only to pick up Rune-_sama_ and then to shuttle us to Tomoeda. He's crazy, but he's very good at what he does. He'd even fly us to the ends of the world if we even suggest it."

"Nobody's _that_ crazy." To Millie's reply, Lyserg grinned and said:

"Well, _he_ is. Besides, the sorcerer is the one who will teleport us."

Marco remained a bit unconvinced. "Then the problem is the sorcerer in question. We don't know if he will help us."

"He will." Lyserg was adamant about that. "He will."

                                                                                *         *         *

            The young man sipped contentedly from his cup of Earl Grey tea and smiled at his servitor. "Ah, thank you very much, Daidouji-_kun_. The tea, as always, is excellent."

"_Arigatou_, Eriol-_kun_." The girl proffered her tray to their companions. "Myzuki-_sensei_, Nakuru-_chan_?"

"I find the appellation of –_chan_ demeaning." But Nakuru did take the offering, and so did the woman named Myzuki.

"So," Myzuki asked the youth, "Have you considered the request?"

"We have more than an hour to do so. There is no real need to hurry."

"Need I remind you that this is a very serious and extensive endeavor, accompanied by corresponding risks?"

"All on our friends' part, to be exact, but your observation is true. We have the easier part of the task –if we accept. The risks for them, however, will be very great. They might not even be able to return her. That potential outcome alone is enough to daunt anyone. Even," he added, "Me."

"So, what will be your answer, Eriol-_kun_?" asked the girl serving the tea. "What is your heart's answer to this?"

The boy named Eriol smiled mysteriously.

                                                                                *         *         *

            The X-Laws were gathered on the hotel rooftop, standing beside the wide helicopter pad and scanning the skies for their aerial transport. It had to be a helicopter coming to fetch them, though how in the world Lyserg managed to rent or borrow or steal one, even Maestro had no idea.

"Lyserg-_kun_," asked Millie for who knows how many times already, "Are you sure he'll come?"

"I'm sure of it."

As always, Millie sighed and kept her peace for a little while longer.

The others were in better temper. Though Vincent seemed like a wild stallion raring to get free of bit and bridle, Drake was in quiet bliss reading _Ultra-Maniac_, while Maestro imperturbable as usual_._ As for Marco, the light from the sky fell down at such an angle upon his glasses that no one could see his eyes and thus predict what mood he was in, but the neutral line of his mouth told them he was at least patiently biding his time. 

For now.

When Morphine touched Lyserg's cheeks in notice, the young dowser looked up expectantly. "He's here."

Everyone followed his lead, looking for the source of the subdued roar and the powerful downdraft of wind that seemingly came from nowhere, seeing nothing–

–nothing, that is, until it appeared right in front of them.

Lyserg had seen it before, but it still struck a sense of awe and amazement and fear in him. It looked liked a C-130 military transport plane, but it was not such because it hovered right above them like a helicopter. Where a common plane's wingtips were, the weird aircraft had big engines whose noise was strangely muffled for their size. Under the chin was a nasty-looking Gatling gun; on each of a pair of stubby weapons pylons were a quartet of large snub-nosed missiles. The aircraft was colored a glossy black, completing the fearsome image of this mysterious aerial war machine.

And it had simply shimmered into existence right before them, as if the air before it rippled like a curtain before revealing its presence.

"An Osprey," the excited Drake told his companions over the aircraft's noise, "But it's not like any of the tilt-rotors I've seen."

"It's got turbojets instead of turboprops," the equally impressed Vincent added. "Quiet ones, too."

"And the way it just appeared out of nowhere, like it was invisible or something!

"Woah! A 20mm chain gun! Hellfire missiles on the pylons!"

"Can someone explain all this in English for those who don't read Tom Clancy?" pleaded Millie, confused already as to what the two ex-soldiers were jabbering about.

"Kid, the V-22 Osprey is the follow-on to the old US Navy and Marine troop helicopters." Vincent was bubbly with delight. "It's what they call a tilt-rotor aircraft, because it can tilt its wings and thus its engines. It can fly like a helicopter, but at twice the speed and twice the range."

"But this one isn't anything like the others," Drake added. "For one thing, it's got turbojet engines instead of turboprops– no propellers, roughly the same kind of engines as a commercial airliner. It's also armed to the teeth. And it was invisible until a second ago –that means some kind of really hot stealth system, light years better than the Stealth bomber. This must be some kind of really advanced prototype."

"More than that." Lyserg stepped up towards the aerial monster. "It's our ticket to Tomoeda."

He waved at it brightly. "Eah! Over here!"

"_Oy_!" The voice that boomed over the Osprey's external speakers was cheerful and careless and talked in a language none of the others could understand. "Lyserg! _'__Musta__, bata? Ayos ba?"_

"_Oo__ naman,"_ Lyserg replied in the same language, albeit heavily accented. "_Salamat__ at nandito ka na."_

_"Astig!__ Kanina pa kayo?"_

_"Oo!__ Pero hindi pa masyadong matagal."_

"What are you saying?" a curious Millie asked.

"I just greeted him and told him we had been waiting a while."

_"Ang dami ninyo, a!__ Mahal pasada ko, ba, 'kala mo!"_

Lyserg laughed and shouted back: _"Ito naman o! Palibre!"_

"And what did that mean?"

"Just more greetings; nothing important…"

"Weird customs. Do greetings with his people always last this long?"

"Not really. He's just talkative, that's all."

Again the pilot's voice: _"Kyut ng kasama mo, a! _Girlfriend _mo?"___

"No!" Lyserg shouted back, grinning at Millie as he did. "_Gusto mo pormahan?_"

"_'Wag na! Hindi ako pedophile tulad ng ilan diyan!"_

"That's Sir Marco!"

Millie blushed at the attention while Marco frowned. "Can we get this over with?" the latter grumbled, feeling Lyserg was making fun of him but unable to prove it. "I'm sure you can swap life stories while we get Minor and head for Tomoeda."

"Sorry, Sir Marco." Lyserg shouted a few more instructions to the pilot, who chatted back in the same language. The Osprey landed on the helicopter pad, turning around at the last moment and opening the rear cargo door. The X-Laws ran up the ramp and inside the passenger section, where the pilot was waiting for them.

He was of medium height, with black eyes and light golden brown skin of the same hues as Rione, and was not dressed in the customary flight suit military air crew wore. Instead he had on in a Russian soldier's combat uniform –complete with Soviet hammer and sickle insignia– and slung over his shoulder was an AKM machine gun. Chomped firmly between his teeth was –of all things to gnaw upon– a barbecue stick.

_"Oy, bata!"_ The pilot's grin grew to Cheshire Cat-like proportions. _"Nagpapadala ng bati si _Elde. _'__Di__ siya makapunta ngayon, e,_ so best wishes _na__ lang raw."_

_"Sayang,"_ answered the smiling Lyserg, who then turned to his teammates. "I have the pleasure to introduce Eah Osborn, freelance pilot extraordinaire and the so-called '_Haribon__ Agila'_."

"It's 'Eah', _bata_." The Filipino pronounced his name as 'Aah'. He then spoke in passable English: "This–" he patted a wall, meaning the aircraft, "Is the MV-22S Osprey Mod II, my one and only Orca Transport. My copilot/navigator is Lavi." He jerked his machine gun towards the cockpit: "Say hi, Lavi!"

"Don't point that thing at me," was the annoyed reply of a cute girl of sixteen with a short crop of orange hair and hazel brown eyes who walked in. She gave Lyserg a brief smile and nod, and he returned the gesture. They were clearly friends.

Millie looked just a bit envious.

Lavi said to Eah: "Put that thing away, numbskull. It's dangerous to tote a loaded gun the way you do."

Everyone agreed, as the pilot was waving the AK around and pointing it at the X-Laws as he did. No one wanted to get shot, especially by accident and by an 'ally'.

"I took the magazine out." He held up the ammunition clip and waved it for all to see. "See? It's safe!"

"You forget," she returned dryly, "That your gun fires even without ammo."

"Oh. _Oo__ nga, ano?_" He put his attention to the X-Laws. "Anyway, Lavi and I will be your taxi this time of the year. We can get you anywhere and anytime, no questions asked. Our motto is, 'Rain or snow or the occasional MiG and nuclear Armageddon, nothing will stop us short of Sheo Darren. That's when you start worrying like hell'." Then Eah broke into a cackling sort of laugh.

The X-Laws stared at him in confusion and not a little bit of dread. Lavi groaned.

"Eah has a weird sense of humor," Lyserg offered for his companions. "He's also crazy." Not '_sort of'_ crazy; plain '_crazy'_.

"Sheo Darren?" Marco asked deprecatingly. "What kind of a name is that?"

"Fear him," Eah said in a sinister but comical way, making 'evil' eyes and gurgling noises at the bespectacled X-Laws. "Fear him well, creation of the evil empire..."

"Spare me, please."

"Can I still take the train?" muttered Vincent drably. "I think I'd rather risk being late than being nuts."

"Macadamia, Growers', or Charles Schultz's? _That_ is the question…"

Millie and Drake just had to chuckle at that, even when Vincent nudged them in annoyance.

Exasperated, Lavi literally booted Eah back into the cockpit. "I don't know how you convinced Eah here to take you along –not that it's really hard– but I believe we'll be making a brief stop on the way?"

"Maestro will tell you when and where." Lyserg gestured to the X-Laws in question.

She glanced at the sinister psychic, shuddering as she did. "Why you put up with guys like him, I'll never know. Then again," Lavi aimed a hopeless glare at the cockpit, where Eah was horribly but cheerily singing in an off-key tune, "I don't know why I put up with _him, _either."

"La~vi on a jet plane! La~vi on a jet plane! Don't know when she'll be back again!"

"Excuse me for a moment while I kill my partner." Lavi stomped back into the cockpit and closed the door. There were violent thumping noises from that direction, and Lavi could be heard saying something unintelligible but nasty-sounding, a thud punctuating every point of hers.

"This is going to be a long day," a distressed Millie observed.

                                                                                *         *         *

            It wasn't as bad as she thought. The trip was mercifully quick as the Jet Osprey –'Orca Transport' was Eah's pet name for his aircraft– was just a tad below 500 miles per hour. Thankfully Lavi bolted shut the door to the cockpit, successfully keeping Eah's horrid singing from reaching their passengers. When she tried to talk to Lyserg over the PA, though, Eah's loud voice overcame hers, forcing her to cut the announcement or risk the X-Laws committing mass suicide or murder just to be rid of the pilot. Instead, Lavi let Eah fly the plane and personally went over to their passengers.

"I take it we're near our first check-point?" She aimed the question at Lyserg, since she was too intimidated by Maestro's menacing figure to ask the psychic directly.

"Maestro?"

_"A few more minutes on this heading,"_ came the telepathic reply.

"Thank you. He says to hold course for a few more minutes."

"It chills me," Lavi said with real apprehension, "The way he talks inside your head and reads your most private thoughts like that."

_"I can no longer speak as ordinary people do. I make do with this."_

"I commiserate with your situation. I'd wish Eah couldn't speak _and_ couldn't use telepathy."

"He can?" Lyserg looked surprised. "I didn't know Eah was psychic."

"He isn't. He's just darned good at guessing things."

_"He is an odd one, this Eah Osborn. I cannot read his mind."_

"That's because he doesn't have one, so to speak." Lavi looked a bit serious and Lyserg didn't try debating that comment, so everyone took that as truth.

"Why is a person as young as you piloting a plane like this?" Drake asked.

"Why is a girl like her," and here she pointed at Millie, "On _your_ team, fighting who knows what miniature war you need to fight?"

"We do what we have to do." Millie too was curious. "But why do you do this?"

"It's a way of living. I once made my living as a navigator on a Vanship courier line. Things can get hairy; things _usually_ do. Eah and I try to stick to courier services, but sometimes we get hot spots as assignments. Eah likes excitement, but I'd rather play it safe. But money talks, and that's the important thing. The harder the job, the more we're paid. If we don't get paid, we don't do the job."

"So it's the money issue?"

"Basically? Yes. In your case, religious fervor goes a long way, though, from what Eah tells me."

"And what will this job cost us?" asked Marco with just a hint of a threat. The Italian didn't like his religiosity to be the topic of off-hand disregard, especially by an upstart girl and a crazy man. He also was quite stingy with money.

Lavi's grimace spoke volumes. "Nothing. Eah told me this mission's for charity: '_Para sa mistah kong si_ Lyserg'," she sarcastically quoted, complete with accent. "He also has the only handheld machine gun on this aircraft _and_ the insanity to use it, even on me. Who am I to argue?"

"Besides," Eah's voice came over the PA, "If we don't help you guys get Jeannen back, Sheo and the Lyserg-Jeanne fans will kill us."

Again the X-Laws stared, confused and unable to understand what the general idea behind that comment was, even as Lavi snapped at Eah to keep off the PA and keep his crazy ideas to himself while Eah began singing _Duvet_ from _Serial Experiment Lain._

"She's actually a nice person, isn't she?" Millie asked Lyserg. "Lavi, I mean."

"Of course. She just hides it because she doesn't want to be seen as weak." The dowser grinned rather sneakily. "She acts a bit tomboyish and greedy, but she's actually very nice once you get to know her."

"_Ulol__!"_ Eah hooted over the PA. _"Ako yung _DukeofBuckingham_ kung totoo iyon!"_

"I heard that," growled the exasperated Lavi.

_"_Bow down before me, illiterate peasant fools! _Hala__, halikan ninyo ang paa ng maharlikang burgis na ito!_"

"Excuse me." Lavi grabbed a big wrench handily lying around and proceeded to advance on the cockpit door. "I'll just go kill my pilot for real, if you don't mind."

"We don't," Marco growled, even as he and Vincent stood up to follow her lead, weapons at hand. "Mind if we come along, lend a hand?"

"Not at all, not at all..."

Lyserg sighed. This was going to be a _long_ flight, indeed…

                                                                                *         *         *

            Rune coolly observed the big black aircraft materialize out of nowhere and hover in midair before her like a giant insect. "What took you so long?" she asked the apologetic Lyserg and –surprisingly– Marco, the latter two just getting off the Orca Transport's side door.

"We picked up an itinerant nutcase and a soul drowning in worldliness." Marco was properly disgusted. "We should have taken the train, spared ourselves the unnecessary hardships and insanity."

"Why, Sir Marco, how considerate of you. I thought you incapable of expressing such compassion for the lesser elements of humankind that you came from."

"Don't you start, Minor," he warned.

"Make me, Testarossa."

As usual they were at it again, and as usual Lyserg interrupted the brewing row with a diplomatic cough. "Miss Rune, did all go well?"

She gathered her black clothes around her, the better to protect against the strong downdraft of the Orca Transport's engines. "In a way."

"What an ambiguous answer," Marco said sardonically. "I don't suppose you could explain further? Specify certain points that might be important to our very lives and the world's peace?"

Rune ignored her arch rival, focusing instead on Lyserg. "I performed the ritual and called upon the elders. They did not take my call kindly or lightly. They did not even try to pretend friendliness." Her icy black eyes narrowed. "But they have told me a few things."

"Enough for our purposes?"

She didn't answer, simply strode past them. Then Marco smiled faintly, understanding the affirmative in her silence.

"Enough, indeed, Minor. Enough, indeed..."

                                                                                *         *         *

            Stealth system fully active once more and turbojets on full military thrust, the Orca Transport made it to Tomoeda ahead of schedule. Rune ignored Marco all the while, much to everyone's surprise– and relief. No one wanted a fight starting between the two, especially in a cramped space on a plane at 5,000 feet with a crazy pilot overprotective of his aircraft and who had a machine gun handy.

Yes, Lavi and company didn't manage to kill or even hurt Eah: "I am invincible!"

Lyserg directed Eah to look for a particular house in the district, but the Filipino pilot seemed to know just what place his friend meant. With no guidance at all, he easily found the exact spot.

"You seem to know your way around here," Lyserg commented in wry relief.

"_Siyempre__._ One of Boss Sheo's favorite girls lives here. Plus, you mentioned 'sorcerer'. I knew at once who you meant_. _There's only onesorcerer here_ –_actually_, _there's two sorcerers and two sorcer_esses_, as of last count._"_

"_Arigatou__."___

_"Maraming salamat,_ you mean."

_"Hai.__ Maraming salamat."_

                                                                                *         *         *

           "Our guests have arrived," the young man said as the girl took away the empty plates for washing.

"Is it Lyserg and his friends?" she asked.

"Who else?"

"Have you decided, then?" asked the woman named Myzuki.

"Of course. But some drama is required, is it not?"

"Eriol," Myzuki reproached.

"Eriol-_kun_ was just joking," the girl pouring the tea said. "_Ne__,_ Eriol-_kun?"___

"Of course." When all four of his companions nodded, the young man rose from his seat and gestured to her. "Shall we meet them?"

                                                                                *         *         *

            They could see that their host knew they were coming and was waiting for them already. Even before the Orca dropped its ECS (electronic countermeasure systems) and revealed itself, the boy's penetrating blue eyes were already focused on them. Nothing much could hide from those eyes of his, the eyes of one who had lived many lifetimes before this life, the eyes of one with so much power at his fingertips.

He was not alone. There were three women with him –and if you counted the small black cat held in the arms of one of the women, four beings all in all. The oldest woman had long auburn hair and a calmly beautiful expression upon her face. The second one had a darker shade of brunette hair and seemed so _genki_ that this moment of self-control was getting to her. The cat could have been mistaken for a cute stuffed toy with _chibi_ wings– if it weren't for the fact that it watched the newcomers with vivid interest, it was fully alive and intelligent.

But it was the youngest girl who called the most attention. She was absolutely lovely, this delicate waif with the mane of deep blue-black and the serene dark eyes and the pure white scarf worn around pale throat. Where the others stood slightly apart from the young man, this girl stood beside him as his gentle yet strong right hand. She was obviously very close to the bespectacled youth, and the way her aura seemed to be linked intimately with the boy's told everyone how much they adored each other.

Millie in particular was struck with a sudden fantasy of herself and Lyserg just like that, a couple so in love that they seemed to be married already, with a baby in her arms, even, to complete her illusion. But that fuzzy fancy gave way to the reality that in the end, the girl in Lyserg's arms was and would be forever Jeanne.

Sighing in disappointment, she happened to see Rune look a bit distant, as if the black-clad X-Laws herself was also enjoying a private daydream, the slight smile on her pale face speaking volumes.

_I wonder what Rune-san is thinking of?_ wondered Millie.

_Or should it be: _Who_ is she thinking of?_

Who, indeed?

"Welcome to Tomoeda, friends," greeted the young man. "Welcome, X-Laws."

"We have much to talk about, my friend," Lyserg said seriously but companionably.

"Indeed we have, Lyserg Diethyl." His fiancée Daidouji Tomoyo lovingly at his side, Hiiragizawa Eriol smiled faintly as his welcome. "Indeed we do."

                                                                                                                              **_Itutuloy_****_…_**

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**Sheo's**** Thoughts: **This chapter is aptly titled _Cameo_ because quite a number of people appear here in cameo roles (meaning, they play themselves). It is also pretty long and complex and I hope my readers bear me out.

           There are two new characters introduced here. Eah Osborn is another original character from an original story I'm working on. The other new character is Lavi. I took her basic character concept from Lavi of _Last Exile_ and basically fitted her into the story_._ Don't worry, they aren't too important. I just wanted to link this fan fiction to my original work and add some more humor.__

           As you may notice, some of the dialogue is in Filipino, especially between Lyserg and Eah. The spoiler answer would be that Lyserg had met and learned Tagalog from Eah before. I'll post a translation of their dialogue in the future –or maybe not. Foreign readers suffer! ^_^'

           I guess the biggest surprise here would be Eriol and Tomoyo. They are almost 19 here, so this is set nearly a decade after the second movie. This chapter and the next ones are also a preview for the _Card Captor Sakura_ fan fiction I'm planning to post in the latter half of this year, if all goes well. Please wait for it; I'm sure you'll like it, especially the Jin Zapper. Three guesses who I'm pairing up ^_^.

           These are reference sources for much of the stuff in this chapter, just to reinforce my disclaimers: Dale Brown and Tom Clancy for the military stuff; _Card Captor Sakura_ for the setting and characters_; Magic Knight Rayearth_ for a brief mention; and_ Last Exile_ for Lavi's basic concept_._ I don't own them.

           As for my original story? To quote my friend Taka Ichiko: _Himegoto__._

           Forgive me for being a bit vague with a few parts, such as how Lyserg met Eah, what Rune was really doing alone –or the person she was thinking of– and other plot-related cliffhangers. Especially the glaring fact that Jeanne and Rione did not appear here; please don't kill me, especially you, Setsumi-_chan_ and Jess-_chan/_Fluffychans and the company. I promise to remedy all that in the next chapters.

           As always, please read, enjoy and review.


	10. Nine: On Vacation

**Disclaimer:** I do not dream of usurping Hideyuki Takei's work, just as he does not want to take away Rione, Millie, Rune, Eah and Lavi and myself from me. I just like to write Jeanne-Lyserg. Fear me. ^_^

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**Previously, on "The Romancers"...******

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             The last chapter was appropriately named... or perhaps it should be called 'Crossover' instead? We have original characters Eah Osborn and Lavi plus _Card Captor Sakura_'s Hiiragizawa Eriol and Daidouji Tomoyo and company (I'll get to their story in good time) all helping Lyserg. Jeanne was conspicuously missing from the previous chappie, a fact that makes me look around warily. Those Jeanne fans are scary.

             This chapter is dedicated to all the _Card Captor Sakura_ fans_. _More of that to come!

             Daidouji Tomoyo, Princess of all Japan? _Sutteki__! Sutteki!_

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**The Romancers**

**Set One: Shaman King**

**By: Sheo Darren**

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**Iron Maiden and Dowser Knight**

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**Chapter Nine: On Vacation**

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             "Miss Jeanne…"

Buried beneath her comfortable blankets –New Zealand nights could sometimes be quite cold– Jeanne stirred groggily in her fast sleep. In her dream world Lyserg was calling to her, holding his arms out to her, beckoning to her to be with him. Behind him were two people she had never seen before, the boy with glasses and dark blue hair, the girl with violet-gray pupils and long black hair. Beside _them_ were –she did a double-take– a happy Marco paired up with–

"_Yare, yare_, Miss Jeanne! _Ohayou__ gozaimasu!_"__

That broke the spell sleep had cast on her. The images slipped away from her mind as Jeanne came fully awake.

Fairly glowing with excitement, the cheerful Rione grinned down at her guest. "_Bangon__ na!_Wake up, sleepyhead! We've got a busy day ahead of us today, and we'd rather not waste all the daylight hours we've got! _Hala__, bangon ka na diyan!_"

Still drowsy, Jeanne sat up, rubbed at her sleep-laden eyes to clear them, and glowered cutely at her friend. "Good God, what is it now?" she asked in a rather cross tone.

The Iron Maiden had never really been a morning person, a tiny fact that Asakura Hao had failed to use against her decisively despite the latter's penchant of finding a use for however minor a weakness of his opponent. Jeanne had once theorized that it was due to all the time she spent up late in the night during the war with the renegade Shaman, when she and her X-Laws often operated on what Meene had once joked as 'crummy working hours at the graveyard night shift'. Hao and his minions had a penchant of operating at ungodly hours of the night –a fancy that was understandable, given their evil agenda needing secrecy– and thus the X-Laws had to reset their natural body clocks to compensate for working very late hours.

Perhaps because of the abnormal sleeping hours, Jeanne was rather irritable –or coming as close to being so, considering she wasn't an irritable person but angelic, a fact that everyone who knew her would immediately support– when made to rise up all too early. The usual waking time for her was about ten in the morning, just right for brunch. Anything earlier was a sin.

Like, right now, just three o'clock or so in the morning, the sun itself haven't bothered to get up yet.

Yes, yes, it was a wonderful New Zealand morning as usual, with the clean air and lovely natural foliage and majestic mountains that had produced the Anchor Milk of Filipino advertising fame. Yes, the world was free of Asakura Hao, that greatest of foes and world threats (not to mention greatest of stress-bringers and headaches). Yes, right now she had no responsibilities and no duties –being a 'hostage' had its better points, meaning she was expected to do nothing– and nothing to worry about.

But Jeanne was not a morning person.

Thus, she was annoyed.

And Jeanne annoyed wasn't exactly the most pleasant of people.

Thus the scowl, which wasn't so much as a scowl as it was a slight pout, and a cute one it was considering the cute girl in question. But considering Jeanne's self-discipline when it came to emotions, the gesture was for her equivalent to a normal person's 'death glare', a visible expression of unhappiness and anger.

"Rione, it's cold and still dark, I'm still sleepy, and this bed is very comfortable and is tempting me to bury myself in it and of which I have a mind to give in to, thank you." Jeanne had picked up some of Rune Minor's finer styles of cynicism, and it was a development that rankled Marco like Castro's Cuba annoyed the United States. Not to mention that her sleep was fitful, without the nightmares that haunted her night after night, the best sleep she had ever had for years, but she was still annoyed.

_Besides,_ she left unsaid, keeping the thought to herself, _I was with Lyserg –in my dreams, if not right here and right now._

But she was being ignored. Rione was rummaging in a nearby closet, rifling past tidy piles of freshly-pressed clothes, looking for something nice for Jeanne. The Romancer was dressed up in outdoors gear: Boots, short pants and blouse. A big hiking backpack was sitting at her feet, a smaller but similar bag leaning on the first.

Believe it or not, Jeanne became even more cross.

"Ah! Here we are!" Beaming, the older girl presented her find. "And it's just the right size for you, Miss Jeanne, if I'm a judge of fashion."

"Just what are those?" she inquired rather coolly as she glanced at the pile of clothes proffered to her.

"Clothes. They're hiking clothes, to be more exact. Get dressed, we're going out."

"At this hour?"

The smile flashed was enough to simmer Jeanne's displeasure. "You don't want to miss this," Rione said. "You don't want to, not for the world."

Sighing in surrender –the Filipino's charm was such–, the fair-haired French girl took the offered clothes for closer examination. She held the short pants before her with a sort of disapproving look, conservative modesty a prime facet of her thinking and already screaming its head off at such 'indecency'. Rione saw her look and added:

"Gowns and long skirts are not welcome at all where we're going. Don't worry; I packed a lot of spare clothes and a medical kit, just in case."

"I assume we'll be hiking?"

She'd never hiked in a sense. Yes, she and her X-Laws had gone all around the world in the war against Hao, traveling on foot across some of the most hostile terrain –natural or man-made or of the spirit world– known to man. But Jeanne had never done highland trekking for recreation.

It sounded fun, though. Tiring, yes, but it was in the end rather fun.

Besides, the clothes worked. They were meant for practicality, not modesty. Stubborn old-world modesty would only earn her scraped shins and a broken ankle or two during a hiking expedition. Jeanne considered herself a logical person. A bruised ego was better than bruised knees, especially considering her frail physique. Needles from her iron maiden were one thing; sharp rocks were another.

A fantasy of her self dressed in such 'provocative' apparel and asking Lyserg what his opinions were on her new manner of clothing tempted her. She was about to dismiss the thought as some subconscious quibble, but then Jeanne decided to wonder just what he would say if she did such. Would he approve? Would he be displeased? What about Marco? What would the X-Laws say?

Forget Marco and the others. Lyserg's opinion was the one that mattered.

_I wonder…_

"Miss Rione," she asked delicately, "Where will you take me? On the hike, I mean?"

She grinned. "I thought you'd never ask."

                                                                                *         *         *

             Ever the gracious host –even though it wasn't exactly _his_ home to speak of– Hiiragizawa Eriol led his companions and the X-Laws inside. Eah and Lavi had only tarried long enough to camouflage the Orca Transport before following them. No one was interested in having a bunch of nosy people flocking to see the very unnatural military assault aircraft parked right outside a house in usually quiet Tomoeda.

'House' was not exactly the right term. The Daidouji residence was a mansion, an expansively large and well-furnished one. It had all the physical perks of such a place: A swimming pool, a tennis/badminton court, a garden and tea bower, and the two-story manor itself, all tended by an army of maids and bodyguards. Lyserg briefly wondered what the cost for building and maintaining such a palatial home was. He decided raiding Fort Knox's gold bullion would just about suffice.

There was a bit of a commotion when the bodyguards tried to take away Eah's AK-74. The Filipino pilot was extremely possessive of his gun and had given his 'tormentors' the run of their lives: With unbelievable speed and agility he scrambled up and down a tree, dived into the swimming pool and came out on the other end in an amazing record-breaking _one_ second, then holed up in a miniature fortress made of chairs and tables in the garden and dared his "bourgeois capitalist oppressors" to "come and get some" as he would "water the soil of his agrarian utopia with their fascist blood" (words in double quotation marks Eah's exact own).

Fortunately, Lavi had a big titanium wrench handy.

As it was, everyone was in the garden now, the 'fortress' now serving its rightful purpose of providing seats and tables. Lavi warned Eah –now nursing a big _bukol_ or bump on his head courtesy her– in very direct and clear terms to behave, "Or else." Thankfully the pilot seemed to understand and kept quiet, fiddling with his AK every now and then but behaving himself in general.

Tomoyo and Nakuru served cakes and lemonade. The X-Laws were thankful save for Vincent Granger, the last ever the feminist who disapproved of such menial 'degradation' of womanhood:

"As usual, women are made to serve the whims of men."

Eriol replied quite conversationally, "Which does not prevent you from accepting the products of the same."

Vincent coughed but kept quiet, being guilty of accepting a (very large) slice of cake. Tomoyo's cooking was just too good to ignore or refuse. Aside, Millie suppressed a giggle while Marco rolled his eyes up to Heaven in a silent plea for peace.

After everyone was fed and relaxed, they got down to business. The atmosphere of the discussion was friendly, but the implications were serious.

"We need your help." Lyserg narrated the events that had led to the kidnapping of Jeanne, elaborating upon the nature of the mysterious kidnapper and the subsequent disappearance. "We think they had teleported to another world entirely, I'm not sure how. Maestro couldn't find them despite his best efforts, and Rune-_san_ was informed by her Elders that they were no longer here on our planet."

"The Druids are quite reliable." That was Eriol, who as his previous incarnation as Clow Read had much experience in dealing with the reticent nature worshippers. "But they are not always the most reasonable of people."

"Are you sure they are telling the truth?" asked Mizuki. "After all, your companion had been cast out from their Order long ago, from what we know."

Between Marco and Millie, Rune visibly stirred, just a tiny hint of emotion at that comment but very significant for her. Kaho-_sensei_ noticed that and moved to apologize: "No offense intended, Minor-_san_."

"None incurred." But it was too clear to those who knew her well that the normally imperturbable X-Laws was rather agitated. "My expulsion was my fault and mine alone. It had happened long ago, and it no longer bothers me–" Yet another lie, before continuing to the truth, "–but I've changed for the better, and my –_the_ Elders know this. They also know of Jeanne's importance and alignment. They helped us because of _her_, not because of _me_."

It was another lie, the last, but only Marco and Lyserg and Eriol knew it, they and–

"I would not think so, Miss Rune, and I think you know better than to do so."

It was Tomoyo. She was giving Rune a long honest look of compassion, her voice soft and compelling and sincere. How she knew the lie for what it was, perhaps it was just womanly intuition –or something else?

Rune coolly returned the kind gaze, but after a moment she looked away, effectively conceding the argument. And _that_ had never happened before, not even with Marco or Lyserg. Rune never surrendered.

Until now, it seemed.

Lyserg took up the argument once more. "We need your help, Eriol. You're the only sorcerer I know who has the power, experience and interest who can help us. We need you to teleport us to a location through time and space. Miss Rune and I can find the exact spot; all you need do is to cast the spell and wait for us to get back. We won't even ask you to help us fight the kidnapper."

"All we're asking you," finished the dowser quietly, "Is to send us there and get us back."

Eriol leaned back into his chair, his blue eyes deep in thought. Everyone hung on what he was going to say. None but Tomoyo knew what his decision was.

"No."

                                                                                *         *         *

            Jeanne drew in as much of the thin clean mountain air as she could in every breath she took, the better to get enough oxygen back into her lungs. The three hour long trek had worn her out, even well-rested as she was from last night's fitful sleep and reinforced by hot chocolate. They had navigated through a forest first before following a manmade trail up into the nearby mountain, the smallest of its brethren. Scaling the topmost peak of even the smallest one was not in their plans –and out of the question for Jeanne, unless her companion decided to do her 'Superman thing'. But that was cheating.

But it was worth the effort –invigorating, even. Just to look around every now and then filled her with awe. The entire region was untouched by the ravages of man, as breathtaking as it had been hundreds of years ago (or at least in this particular timeline, Gundam Wing-wise) when a New Zealander named Peter Jackson filmed the epic _Lord of the Rings_ and thus immortalized his homeland. If that Ainu Shaman friend of Asakura Yoh –Horohoro– was here, he'd probably flip his senses and have his wits literally go to seed; it was so striking and peaceful.

The Iron Maiden had encountered many awe-inspiring sights in the war of the Shamans. She'd forgotten that there were peaceful things just as awesome –perhaps even more so, for they would endure long after man and his creations disappeared from the face of the world or left it for new frontiers.

Jeanne had stopped awhile to gaze at the wonderful vista of nature before her and to regain her breath. She felt cold and tired and all, but she was happy.

"Don't stand still," advised Rione, tugging her friend's arm for emphasis. "Keep moving for a while. It's the best way to cool your body down."

It was the last thirty minutes of their trek. Finally Rione gestured for a general halt. She pointed in the direction of the shimmering horizon, where the sun was finally catching up with the two 'early birds'.

"Rione?"

"Look. Just look."

She did as her friend advised. They waited expectantly, but not for long.

The dawn blazed over the horizon like wildfire, a brightly burning globe of red and orange, its light scattering upon the waves and the rocks and the trees, scintillating like so many mirrors. At its coming the sleeping animals awoke to begin their lives for the day, and the song of life that sprung up from its natural orchestra was lovely.

It was beautiful.

Overwhelmed by the sense of it all, Jeanne held a hand close to her heart and sighed. _I wish Lyserg could see this._

A friendly tap on her shoulder; Rione smiled at her.

"Told you so."

Jeanne smiled back.

"You're right."

"_Ayos__!_" The Romancer was as spry and energetic as she had been when their trek started, but that didn't mean she was unaffected by the effects of time and tide. "Let's go back home! A hot breakfast and a hot bath await us!"

"Lead the way." They started back on their long homeward-bound journey, but not before Jeanne gave one last look at the magnificent New Zealand dawn and kept that memory closely held within her heart.

As long as she lived, that memory and that dawn would never perish.

                                                                                *         *         *

             It was all Marco could do not to lunge across the table and throttle the somewhat smug young sorcerer where he sat. He did stand up from his seat in righteous fury, eyes blazing angrily, clearly a prelude to a more violent reaction. The Roman lion was aroused in the worst way possible, and it just might end up badly for all involved.

Lyserg had wisely assigned Drake to sit beside the X-Laws in question and asked Maestro beforehand to restrain Marco from doing anything rash. The big ex-Royal Marine was despite his relaxed manner big enough and very ready to grab ten Marcos in a bear hug and bodily hold them down –and he'd win, he was that strong. The psychic didn't need any physical effort or nearby presence, only a strong concentration of his will to halt his target as surely as if they had run into a concrete wall.

Aside, Millie was cringing at the impending disaster and Vincent wondered if she should have just gone back to her old mercenary days rather than putting up with this. Nearby, Eah was going over the pros and cons of tripping Marco with his AK against simply shooting him in the knee. Lavi opted for an obvious grimace. Nakuru and Suppi –the black cat– were alert, having observed the man's growing disconcertment and identifying a possible threat to their Master. Mizuki looked slightly tense, but beside and just as serene as Eriol was Tomoyo.

But it was Rune Minor, of all people, who stopped her archrival from letting his agitation get the better of him and perhaps dooming the entire enterprise.

It was nothing more, really, than her hand reaching out and grabbing Marco's wrist. She did not even grasp him firmly; he could have easily pulled away if he had a mind to.

But it was their actual contact itself –not any visible exertion of strength– that froze Marco in his tracks.

"_Yamero__."_ She was cool as always, but oddly Rune dropped her usual sardonic tone, a striking point considering that she had always belittled Marco despite the situation. "Don't."

Marco's fist clenched.

Rune's fingers tightened just a tiny bit.

Everyone stared.

With a huff of displeasure, Marco sat down rigidly. Rune's hand slipped away as he did so, the former Druid returning to her usual distant way of observing her surroundings. Inwardly, everyone breathed in relief –except maybe Eah, who had decided to trip Marco (bullets nowadays were _so_ expensive) and was disappointed not to get a crack at his solution.

Lyserg himself had a far easier time of controlling himself, having known Eriol for quite some time now and knowing there was a reason for the young sorcerer's refusal. He wasn't happy with the choice, but he knew he could still appeal.

"Please excuse Sir Marco. He is very protective of Jeanne and is almost her father, having taken care of her for her whole life."

"No, it is I who must apologize." It was Eriol who stood up now, commanding all attention to focus on him. "I will be the first to admit that I can be somewhat blunt and insensitive at times.

"I must explain my answer. I cannot help you, at least not at once. The gate spell requires much preparation beforehand. It will expend a lot of power, especially if the distances involved are great –perhaps even dimensional in context. I am quite powerful in my own right, but I do not have the fullness of my power that I once had as Clow Read. I alone cannot handle its demands. I will need help from other sorcerers and some time to rest and prepare.

"But my main reason for refusing you is the potential dangers the spell poses for _you_. The gate spell works, I can assure you of that. I can send you anywhere you need to go."

His tone was as grim as it could be without sounding dire at all, typical Eriol.

"But I cannot assure you that I can bring you back."

                                                                                *         *         *

            Feeling refreshed from the hot shower and delicious breakfast Rione prepared, Jeanne was listening raptly to her friend's next suggestion.

"How'd you like a trip to the beach? New Zealand has really good beaches."

"You know," the Iron Maiden noted, "This entire thing is turning into a vacation. I thought I was supposed to be your hostage?"

"I told you the Romancers aren't into kidnapping. And you're not a hostage–"

"–But a guest," Jeanne finished for her. Rione laughed.

"I guess this entire thing has been turning into one big vacation, _ano_?"

"I've noticed."

"Never had a vacation?"

That gave Jeanne paused. "No. I've been the Iron Maiden for my entire life. There was not time enough for normality, not ever."

"Typical. That Marco guy looked like the ultraconservative sort. I was half the mind thinking that he'd kept you locked up inside a remote secluded cloister as a child, shielded from the worldliness of the outside world until you grew to be a perfectly lovely rose. And then," Rione added sneakily, "A certain dowser got up the tower and plucked the rose from beneath Marco's nose without him knowing it, the poor sap."

Jeanne laughed.

"So, after being the Iron Maiden, what do you think are you going to do?"

"I don't know." It was a honest answer. "Maybe go into a monastery; become a nun."

"I'd rather not, if I were you." Rione was lecturing with a spatula in one hand. "Nuns are good and nice; I know quite a few of them, actually, and they're all pleasant people. But you've got a potentially life as a happy normal girl before you. Especially," she elaborated with a smile, "Considering there is someone who'd throw himself in front of a train for you rather than see you slip away from his life forever, he likes you so much."

Jeanne faked extreme ignorance, something the X-Laws had never thought possible: The Iron Maiden making a joke. "Now who could that be?" she pretended to wonder, though she knew exactly who her friend meant. "Marco?"

Rione threatened her with the spatula. "I meant Lyserg-_kun_!"

"We're just friends."

"Friendship is the first part of love. It's a founding article of the Romancers' Constitution."

"The Romancers have a Constitution?"

"Summarized in this immortal rhyme: Jeanne and Lyserg; kissing on a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes friendship, then comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Jeanne with a baby carriage!"__

"Rione!"

"_Joke, joke, joke!_ But you like him, don't you?"

Jeanne was blushing badly. "Well... yes…"

"Does he like you?"

"I... think so…"

"Put some backbone into it, girl! _Lakasan__ mo ang loob mo!_"

"Okay, yes. He likes me."

"_Ayan_!" The girl's eyes twinkled. "Good for you!"

"Don't tell me this entire episode was sparked by a mission to pair us up?" Jeanne asked. The idea of this entire 'kidnapping' and 'chase' all for the objective of ensuring she and Lyserg ended up together was, to use a Tagalog phrase beloved of Rione, _"Nakakabusog ng puso_," or "Touching".

"I hate to break your bubble, _pero_ _hinde_. You and Lyserg are already an official pair, together forever even without our help."

"Then just who are you aiming to pair up, Miss Romancer?"

Rione's grin grew big, Cheshire Cat-size.

"_Sikreto__…"_

_Secret…_

                                                                                *         *         *

            All of the X-Laws stared at him.

"What?" That was Millie, echoing the troubled thoughts of both Vincent and Drake. "You mean you aren't sure if you can bring us back?"

"The gate spell diminishes in its power and its reach over large distances, especially between dimensions. If the kidnapper had taken the Iron Maiden to another dimension as you fear, it would be a tremendous effort to merely reach out to that plane; more so to actually send you there." Eriol's level gaze spoke volumes. "To maintain the gate over such a massive distance for extended periods of time is well nigh impossible, even if all the sorcerers in the universe banded together to do so. Considering that we will be quite taxed in just sending you there, expecting us to bring you back within an hour's notice, say, is asinine."

"So we can't go back," quietly noted Lyserg, absorbing this ominous fact. "We can go there to rescue Jeanne-_sama_, but we can't return to our own world."

"Just like _Hotel California_," groaned Vincent. "You can check in, but you can never leave."

"Those were devil worshippers," Drake informed his companion. "Father Anderson got them in the end, though."

He was referring to the Roman Catholic Church's counterpart of the X-Laws, the Vatican-sponsored Section Thirteen. Section 13 dealt with paranormal and supernatural crises such as devil worshipping, undead and hauntings. Their primary agent was Father Alexander Anderson, a Scottish regenerator paladin who was quite cheerful with normal people and butchered the undead –and anyone in league with them, human or not– with equal cheerfulness. Marco had been Father Anderson's classmate way back. The X-Laws had encountered him several times, not exactly and never to their profit.

Speaking of Marco, the Roman had kept quiet ever since he sat down. Actually, he had kept his peace for the entire discussion save the one instance that his temper got the better of him. Now he drawled, "So, there is no guarantee that you can bring us back?"

"None," answered Eriol.

"You're sure you can send us there, but you cannot bring us back?"

"_Yes_ on the first part, _I'm not sure_ on the second. I am not sanguine on the possibility of extracting you from that dimension once you're in place. There is a chance of success, but very marginal."

"Fancy talk for, 'Probably not'."

"You have a point. All right, probably not."

"Fine." Marco leaned forward. That action got Drake and Maestro's attention, who prepared to stop their former boss from going at it again. Noticeably, Rune did not move or react. Perhaps she knew something the others didn't, that Marco wasn't going to mess things up?

He didn't.

"Fine," said Marco in a cool businesslike tone. "Send us there."

Now _that_ earned a raised eyebrow from Eriol. "Pardon me?"

"You heard me right. Send us there."

"I've already told you that the chances of you getting back–"

"–Are slim. I know. Send us there."

The X-Laws stared at Marco. They were sure he knew the risks in the endeavor. But here he was, willing to risk never getting back home, his devotion to the Iron Maiden so resolute and firm that _she_ came first before anything or anyone else –even himself.

"He's right." It was Lyserg who came to Marco's support. "We have to go after Jeanne-_sama__._ It is our duty to her as the X-Laws. Her safety comes first before our own. Without her, we are nothing."

_Without her, _I_ am nothing…_

A slight smile creased Marco's face. "Spoken like a true leader of the X-Laws."

Lyserg smiled back. "You taught me all I knew, Sir Marco." To the others: "Well?"

Rune was the first to stand up. Typical of her, she did not say anything and did not need to. She just did so.

Grinning broadly, Drake followed her lead. "A Royal Marine knows where his loyalty lies. As our American buddies say, 'First to fight'. I'm with you, Lyserg."

The realistically-inclined Vincent groaned at her companions' idealism, but when Maestro nodded his head in agreement –unable to sit due his armor, he had been standing all the time– she threw her hands up in the air. "No one is going to say that Vincent Granger is not coming along for the ride when psychics decide to give it a try." She stood up as well. "We're all going to die, but better to die in action than in torpor."

That left Millie, who hugged her pet Haro 'Red' close to her and kept quiet. All eyes focused on her.

She was frightened, frightened of the possibility that she would never be able to return home.

Lyserg went to her side and held her hands. "Don't worry, Millie," he said kindly. "I'll protect all of us. I'll bring everyone back home, especially you."

She looked up into those handsome green eyes and felt her courage return. For him, she would dare anything and fear nothing, even if it was a hopeless dream to be with him.

It was only for Lyserg Diethyl that she had eyes and voice and heart and life.

Millie nodded.

"Well, now." Eriol looked quite interested in the gathering. "Since I cannot dissuade you from the risks, I have no choice but to agree. We'll do it tomorrow, if it pleases you."

Beside him Tomoyo beamed. _I told you so._

Lyserg breathed in relief. "_Maraming__ salamat,"_ he said, smiling.

"_'Yan ang bata ko!"_ Eah gushed happily, impressed with his buddy. "Go, Lyserg!"

"Haro!" Red chirped happily. "_Yatte__ yaruze!__ Yatte yaruze!"_

_Let's do it!_

                                                                                                                              **_Itutuloy_****_…_**

**Sheo's**** Thoughts: **

              I wrote this in only two days. _Ayos__, ano?_ I really love writing _Iron Maiden and Dowser Knight._ It's so fun to write! So fun to have Rune needle Marco! So fun to mess with Marco! Everyone –well, almost everyone hates Marco! Especially me!

              Now, some reviewers had been asking questions about this story. Here are some answers to that.

1) Nagumo: Yes, you are right. I got Marco and Jeanne's last names from your story _Exaudi__ Nos Misrere_. Actually, one of my favorite anime characters is named Tessa Testarossa, and your fic's Marco had caught my attention by having the same last name. As for Jeanne, it kind of logically follows that her last name could be D'Arc ('of Arc') as the name 'Jeanne' can be translated as 'Joan' and her being French. Apologies for forgetting to inform you and kudos to your excellent story.

2) Fluffychans: Yes, I have an original story featuring Lavi and Eah –and, if you ever dip into my _Guilty Gear_ fan fiction (_onegai__,_ don't! My GG story is bad for your sanity! ^_^), the main protagonist in it is Elde Talonn, The Wanderer. It's actually a cross-over story importing a lot of characters and ideas from both anime and games I like. I'm still working on the exact details. By the way, _Iron Maiden and Dowser Knight_ takes place about a year or so after _Shaman King_. Finally, if you have any suspicions as to whom Rune is thinking of… _sikreto__ na lang natin iyon_ ^_^

              My _Card Captor Sakura_ story will come out perhaps during June or July 2004. It's mostly complete, but I'm currently busy finishing two fan fiction –my _Guilty Gear_ story and this very story– so it's on hold. To quote Rione, the 'targets' are (obviously) Tomoyo and Eriol. Also, there are other pairings that just might get your attentions ^_^.

              Finally, I'm still alive even though I brazenly did not put Jeanne in the last chapter. Now _that_ is courting _massive_ retaliation from _all_ the Jeanne fans. But since they are not here and I did write much of this chapter about Jeanne-_chan_, I think I have nothing to fear–

(Setsumi-san, Kitsune Asakura, Fluffychan, syaoran no hime, Apple-chan, Angel-wing2 and all the other Jeanne fans arrive, carrying cute weapons of destruction such as bloody axes and Piko-Piko Hammers and apple pies and orange rubber duckies, all yelling, "Sheo! Why did you not show Jeanne-_sama_ in the previous chapter? Suffer our displeasure!")

              –Or maybe not: Help! Send me reviews and I'll probably survive this –ack! Ow! Ugh! Please, stop –Hey, wait! No, not that! Not the hair! Anything but my hair! Augh! Save me, Lumiere! NOOOooo…


	11. Ten: Second Thoughts, Last Regrets

**Disclaimer:** ManKin and Card Captor Sakura are not mine; they're Hiroyuki Takei's and CLAMP's, respectively. Rune, Rione, Millie, Lavi, Eah etc original characters are mine. Also, I seem to have come out more or less intact from the mobbing I got dragged into during the last chapter. Ow, Setsumi-_san_ can sure do some damage when she's inspired to do so. That axe hurts; Jess-_chan_'s orange rubber ducky even more so. And I think it was Kitsune who whacked me with the whole raw _bangus_. Said shoulder is still numb, not to mention it smells like dead fish. Someone even sent the Spirit of Flame after me; Hao sure is helpful when he isn't needed to be so. But it was the apple pie that finished me. I don't like apples very much (but I like your work a lot, Apple-_chan_, please don't get angry at me ^_^).

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**Previously, on "The Romancers"...******

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             Jeanne-_chan_ gets a long-deserved vacation courtesy Rione. The X-Laws' dilemma: Without or without the Iron Maiden, their world or a new one? Eriol is his usual self, but Tomoyo is _much_ more than herself. And the impossibility: Rune standing up for Marco. A choice is made: Lyserg and company are coming for the rescue.

             But does Jeanne need rescuing?

             This is dedicated to my brother Earl (writer identity Earl Osborne), who just recently got the shock of his life when Fluff Inc wondered if his representation in this story –Eah Osborn– is paired up with Lavi. No, Jess-_chan__,_ unfortunately Lavi and Eah aren't the pairing I plan, however cute it seems. No, Earl, you can't go after Fluffychan's head, she's a very good reviewer and friend of mine. I said, no. Bad Earl. Shame on you. No more editing for your story, _sige__ ka_…

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**The Romancers**

**Set One: Shaman King**

**By: Sheo Darren**

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**Iron Maiden and Dowser Knight**

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**Chapter Ten: Second Thoughts, Last Regrets**

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**(a.k.a.**** The** **Fluff Inc Special**)

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            "_Heto__ na!"___

Jeanne watched the volleyball arc into the air and then fall down towards her. Putting her hands together just as she had been taught, gauging the time she had to act, she struck upwards with all her might.

She missed.

The volleyball bounced once on the sand and settled down.

"_Ayos__! _Point for me!"

Waving her fist triumphantly in the air, Rione was throwing a miniature celebration at her scoring run. Jeanne just had to grin back.

"I'll get you for that."

The sun was up and shining, but the day wasn't hot, not hostilely so despite the lack of cloud cover. More like warm, enough to start one perspiring, but not too badly such that people would need a really good shower afterward. All in all it was a perfect day to go play some volleyball, which Rione had 'tricked' Jeanne into trying just for fun's sake.

The scoreboard right now was Romancer 9, Iron Maiden 0, but Jeanne didn't mind. She didn't like losing and wasn't the most athletic of people –wasn't even a shadow of athletic, actually– but that didn't matter much to her. Right now she was having fun, enjoying herself silly, and so was Rione. This wasn't a life-or-death battle, just an affable competition between two friends.

Besides, it was a 'first to twenty' match. She theoretically could still catch up.

But there was a catch, too.

Five minutes later…

After a massive landslide loss on the margin of twenty to zero, Jeanne submitted herself to the agreed punishment for the loser: Ten minutes of being buried in the sand. Rione showed remarkable energy in digging out the shallow hole for Jeanne to lie in and then covered the latter completely with the same sand she had quarried. Once done, the Filipina grinned over her handiwork. Jeanne looked like she was a small mound of sand with the head and feet of a pretty girl sticking out at opposite sides.

"It's not as bad as you think," she very serenely said. "My iron maiden had needles, you know."

Rione pouted. "It's supposed to take the fun out of you, not remind you of worse days."

"Well, it works. Can you get me out of it now?"

Despite her somewhat scatterbrained mindset, Rione had planned well ahead for this excursion. There was an umbrella and recliners, a Coleman cooler laden with ice cold drinks, several cups of delicious strawberry-flavored ice cream and a jar of yummy chocolate chip cookies. The last two foods were favorites of Jeanne, though just how the Romancer had known about them –and the particular stories behind them– she would never know.

"Let's just say I learned of them from a certain fellow Filipina who loves fluff," Rione had joked, ending the matter with her carefree ho-ho grin that was undoubtedly stolen from both Daidouji Tomoyo and Asakura Yoh.

The fair-haired French girl brushed off the sand from her conservative white bathing suit as she got up on her feet. The swimwear was a gift from Rione which Jeanne had with great reluctance accepted and with even greater reluctance worn. Not that she disliked receiving presents. It was just that it was swimwear. No matter how conservative it was, in Marco's eyes it would always be evil.

But swimsuits were part of the tradition at beaches, was the explanation to the worldly-innocent Iron Maiden.

And:

"Besides, I'm _sure_ Lyserg-_kun_ will like it…"

And _that_ was enough to end their argument.

"Cheater," protested Jeanne over a spoonful of strawberry ice cream.

"What? It's true, isn't it?" Rione looked a bit sneakily thoughtful, nibbling at a cookie as she was. "I seem to remember a certain icebreaker game when Lyserg-_kun_ got caught…"

"I have no idea what you are talking about." But she was blushing despite herself, and that gave her away.

_"Uy, _guilty! _Huli__ ka!_"

Jeanne blushed even more. "Oh, will you stop teasing me!"

"Not 'til you admit it! _Aminin__!_"

"Rione! It's not funny!"

"Heh, you mean you'd never dream of it, is that what you mean? Aw, come on, I'm sure–"

But the tease fell short as Rione noticed the way her friend suddenly became very quiet.

"Jeanne?"

"_Doshite__?"_

_Why?_

"Why do I dream like that?" she asked.

Looking very uncomfortable with the silence, Rione decided that now was the time to do it. "Do you promise to listen to me and consider everything I'm going to say?"

"Yes."

She sighed. "Then here goes…"

                                                                                *         *         *

            _It's been a long day,_ decided a drowsy Lyserg as he plopped himself on the very soft and comfortable bed, letting the cushions do their simple everyday magic on his tired body. _But I think it was worth it._

_No._

_It _was_ worth it._

Someone knocked at his door, snapping him back into wakefulness.

"Lyserg?" It was Millie. "Can I come in? I'd like to talk with you, if you don't mind."

"Um, sure, come right in." Privately he wondered what it was she wanted to discuss.

Then Lyserg remembered he didn't have a shirt on. He'd taken his uniform off earlier.

_Uh, oh.___

The door opened.

"Lyserg-_kun_, I–"

Millie stared at the sight of Lyserg shirtless and lying on his bed looking up at her.

She blushed.

So did Lyserg.

"Get dressed! Lyserg, get dressed! Turn away, Millie, let Lyserg dress!"

That was Haro, bouncing up and down as it chattered endlessly and scolded.

Even as Millie turned away, her face burning in embarrassment, Lyserg was hurriedly grabbing at whatever shirt was handy. The only one handy was the one Vincent had given to him as a joke, the tee shirt with the bold print in front proclaiming **_I'm so sexy_**_._ He stared at it for a moment, shook his head at some people's sense of humor and hurriedly put it on.

_"Gomenasai…"_

"Uh, no, it's nothing…"

Peeking first over her shoulder to reassure herself that Lyserg was already dressed, Millie sighed in relief and walked over to her friend and confidante.

"Can I sit here?"

"Sure."

Suppressing her blush somewhat successfully, Millie sat down right next to Lyserg, who was regarding her curiously. When she looked at him, she caught sight of the text on his tee shirt.

_I'm so sexy?_

"Isn't that the same one that Miss Vincent gave you a while back?"

"Right in front of the X-Laws?" He grinned ruefully at the memory. "It's the same one, yeah."

Marco had gone bonkers at Lyserg and Vincent for that gag, not knowing that the poor dowser had nothing to do with it. Vincent had been totally incorrigible and totally without conscience, but Drake had laughed his ass off. Her usual self, Rune did not care. As for Jeanne, she had stared wide-eyed at the shirt and then at Lyserg, a slight blush on her cheeks mirroring the deeper one on his.

Who knows what thoughts and temptations danced inside the Iron Maiden's mind at that time?

What no one had also known or seen back then was how Millie, despite cowering behind Maestro's armored frame due to Marco's volcanic rant, was also deciding to herself, _Yeah, he's sexy, all right._

She'd always had a huge crush on him. From the first time they've met and ever since, Millie had been crushing on Lyserg like she'd never done so on anyone before. It was a classic case of poignant puppy love: Girl likes boy who has absolutely no idea she exists, and by the way, he already has someone he likes very much and who likes him a lot, too. There were things to be said for doomed enterprises, a lot more for unrequited love.

It was love she felt for him, a deeply special kind of love.

.

_She'd been looking for her sister back then, had been told that she was with a group called X-Laws who was fighting evil in the world. She'd worked so hard to find the X-Laws so that she could see her one-san again._

_And then Millie learned that Meene had died a short while ago._

_She'd cried then, cried so bad to learn her big sister was no longer with them. She'd been so happy looking forward to seeing her again after such a long time. She told herself that she would bring Meene home, that she would persuade her sister that she'd done enough and that it was time to go back to the life she'd left, the life with her. Her efforts were all for nothing in the end._

_Perhaps Millie would never amount to anything, not without her beloved sister Meene._

_And then Lyserg, that green-haired angel of that moment who was smiling gently at her, told her:_

_"Don't cry. Meene is in Heaven now. She is happy there. I'm sure she'd like you to be happy, too."_

_"How do you know?"_ _she had in tears asked him._

_"I know it because that's how Meene want everyone to be. She was my friend. She wanted me to be happy despite the end. If she could feel so for a friend, how more could she do so for family she loved?"_

_She'd stopped crying, then, and looked up at him._

_"Try to smile," he coaxed. "Meene told me people looked better when smiling. I only knew the truth of it when she was gone."_

_And then he was crying, too, but he was smiling as well._

_Millie tried to smile. She did._

_"See? You look very pretty when you smile."_

_"Honto ne?"___

_"Haii."___

_She smiled. "Arigatou…"_

.

She loved him, but she'd never been able to tell him how much she did.

Until now.

Lyserg was very surprised when Millie hugged him. What she told him next surprised him even more.

"I love you."

                                                                                *         *         *

            "Cheers."

"Cheers," echoed three others over the clinking of glass and mug and jug and the lone plastic bottle.

The tradition of the tinkling of glass driving away bad luck or evil spirits is an old one widely known and followed in drinking circles all around the world. But even if it was not really true, demons would surely avoid this particular table like the plague, its occupants ranging from nasty to extremely dangerous on the threat level.

They all had different kinds of drinks. Drake was subsisting on a mug of beer, a habit he'd grown from his time in service with Her Majesty's Royal Marines. For Vincent Granger it was her favorite strong brandy, poured into a shot glass with two or three pieces of ice. Eah Osborn was happily (and noisily) guzzling straight down his second half-liter jug of two-hundred proof Russian vodka. Finally, Lavi –the only non-alcohol imbiber at the table– was sipping ice cold bottled mineral water.

"So, tomorrow is the big day, is it?"

That was Vincent setting the tone of the discussion over this particular drinking session. The ex-mercenary was starting to feel her cups (shot glasses, actually, but the metaphor sticks), and thus was becoming as talkative as Millie's Haro. She raised a glass. "Here's to our getting the Lady Maiden back and to kicking the ass of kidnapper scum."

"Don't drink too much, Vincent," advised Drake. "You'll need your wits about you tomorrow."

But he, as well as Eah and Lavi –the last somewhat reluctantly–, mimicked the American's gesture per tradition and drank it all down.

"Ah, that's done it!" The redhead giggled silly, even as Drake wiped away the froth from his lips. "There's nothing like drinking good drink with friends all around."

"_Da__, Tovarisch!_" happily agreed Eah as he swallowed a whole Vienna sausage hungrily before going back to gulping down vodka. "_Pero__ tama na iyan, inuman na! May pulutan dito, kaya kumpleto na lahat!"_

"Right," Lavi commented sarcastically.

"Aw, come on, Lavi-_chan__."_ Strong heady drink made Vincent much more receptive and friendly than usual. "Surely you're not as killjoy as some people I know?"

"Of course not: I can be a _worse_ KJ than them _all_ put _together_."

"You're very funny, Lavi-_chan_."

"I find the suffix –_chan_ to be demeaning."

"_Si__ Dizzy na ang nagsabi niyan, a_,_"_ scolded Eah. "Copyright infringement, Nav!"__

"Nav?" asked Drake.

"That's his nickname for me," Lavi explained. "I was a former Vanship navigator before I flew with Eah here. The moniker kind of stuck."

"I got called Vincent," the owner of the name butted in, "Because I didn't want to be called Vicky, as in Vicks Vapor Rub or Icky Vicky."

_I was thinking more of __Victoria__'s Secret,_ Drake thought, seeing that his fellow X-Laws was quite well-endowed and sexy, to say the least. But he diplomatically stuffed it back inside his mind. No knowing how the two women –actually, one woman and one teenager girl– at the table would react to such a sexist thought. He was afraid of both of them, and for good reasons.

_Thinking badly of women, are you?" _came Maestro's telepathic message. _"Shame on you,"_ was the psychic admonishment, _"Marco will flay you alive_."__

Drake nearly jumped out of his skin. _Damn psychics,_ he thought angrily.

_"I heard that."_

"Anything wrong, Drake?" That was Vincent, who was interested to see her comrade-in-arms suddenly look very flustered.

"Uh, nothing, nothing…

"_Right,"_ agreed Maestro in everyone's heads except Eah (the last's mind unable to be reached for reasons already explained), having had his fill of sneaky teasing for the moment. Even psychics need to unwind and liked to tease people who deserve it.

"Whatever…"

                                                                                *         *         *

            Daidouji Sonomi had come up with a lovely idea: Why settle for a swimming pool when the natural version is far better? It was a swimming pool, all right, but it far resembled a miniature lake more in physical appearance, having been extensively planned and modified especially so. As such, it was not only great for swimming in; it was also a nice place to just hang out around, especially at night when the waters shimmered prettily and the fireflies took flight.

Tonight Rune knew where to find the person she was looking for.

Marco was there by himself as he was wont to often. He was watching the pool shush every now and then while the barely discernible hum of its caretaker machinery took the place of the night's insect opera. The restless waters broke up the moon and the lamps' light into shimmering pieces of gold and silver that seemed to float upon its surface as if they were little boats bobbing up and down ocean waves.

Unobtrusively she made her way towards him, coming to stand just to his right a few inches off, gaze focused on the same general direction of Marco's gaze. Strangely enough the X-Law didn't mind her presence as he was wont to, not for this moment.

"It's a nice night, isn't it?" she asked quietly.

"Yes," he agreed.

They didn't talk or act like their companions were used to hearing them do. There was no resentment in their tones or biting sarcasm in their words. For once they talked to each other as normal people would do, albeit they kept their gazes focused ahead and away from each other.

"Pretty," ventured Rune.

"Not bad," Marco allowed, "For an artificial construction."

"Illusions are said to seem better than reality."

"Sometimes, they _are_ better."

"You were always one with a soft side despite yourself, Marco."

"So were you, Rune, unless my memory fails me."

"It didn't. Not this time; not for a long time yet."

The pool seemed to suddenly go still as its systems went into standby mode. The waves stopped. The humming stopped. The broken reflections of the two X-Laws clarified and then became whole.

"Remember the first time we met?"

Was there a faint flicker of a smile on Rune's face?

An answering one for Marco, too?

"Yes."

.

            It had been more than twenty years ago when they first met. Rune's parents, both Druids, had migrated to Italy in order to help out with the famine back in Ronamorium, which happened to be Marco's hometown.

He had been seven while she was six. They were as different and contrary as oil and water. He was the outcast and public shame of the village. She was the spoiled but darling apple of her family. He was his mother's mistake that everyone wanted to erase and forget, the devil child who saw things that no one else could see. She was the daughter doted upon despite difficulties with her abrasive personality, the girl who breathed and brought life into even the stoniest and dustiest of lands. He was moody and introspective, given to being alone because all else shunned him. She was serenely imperious, headstrong and a reticent rebel because she wanted something else than what she already had.

They had met in the most extraordinarily ordinary of circumstances. Despised by his own folk and spurned from almost all kinds of human interaction, Marco had taken to a solitary existence, fine by everyone including himself. His favorite spot to stay in was by a small pond that everyone else avoided due to the supposed 'curse' around it. A man had committed suicide there, and his ghost was rumored to haunt the place at times during the night. The rumor was true; Marco had met and befriended the ghost himself who told about a story of love and betrayal which lead to his untimely suicide. The ghost was a very pleasant person despite his being undead, which was more than Marco could say for some very alive people he knew.

But right now he was alone, truly alone. No invisible ghosts around him, not even the friendly one.

But not for long…

On that very same day she had arrived at Ronamorium, Rune had taken it upon herself walk around the place she would call home for the length of her 'exile'. She was duly unimpressed with the choking dustiness, the overpowering heat and the hypocritical locals. Here was nothing that she liked or wanted. She longed for her ancestral home back in Ireland, the cool air and rambling fields and friendly redheads, the lush growth and tall trees that were her childhood friends and teachers.

But a Druid was meant to be a protector and caretaker of Nature, there to ensure that the Green World that was their Mother remained healthy and bountiful. If mankind would take care of Nature, then Nature would take care of him. The Druids were those specially chosen of people to lead all others in this all-important and never-ending task.

Ronamorium had treated Nature all too badly; now Nature was lashing back out at the part of humanity who did ill to her. Thus the town was paying the price of their ignorance. The Druids were here to right that wrong.

But Rune was very disappointed, at least until she caught sight of the flower.

It was small and simple and so ordinary that the usual passers-by would never give it even a first glance. But to the young Druidess the sight of that one small plant with the single white flower was like an oasis of water to a man dying of thirst in the desert. She broke into a small smile as she gathered her robes together and walked towards that tiny but shining plant, which seemed to embody in its mere existing that there was hope for this hopeless world.

There was a boy just beside that plant, but he seemed to be staring off at nowhere. _Just another 'bright shining example' of the 'wonderful' people of Ronamorium,_ Rune decided. A lover of Nature at heart, she had no care for most of humanity and so made no note of him, her attention riveted upon that flower.

_Surely this boy is of no consequence…_

The first indication Marco made that he knew about the presence of another living being nearby was when his eyes flickered towards the dark-haired girl in the deep green robes almost imperceptibly– and rather hostilely. He did not like being disturbed from his private reveries; they were among the few things were left to him as his own. No one had ever dared intrude upon him before, mainly because everyone hated him and kept a good distance away.

_But this girl dared…_

As Rune approached the flower, the boy stood up and turned to face her. That made her pause. The young girl observed his dirty unkempt state that still somehow failed to degrade the handsomeness of this boy– sort of, somehow. Her slight scowl of disapproval spoke volumes.

Marco knew he wasn't exactly in his best state of affairs. He was dusty and hadn't had a thorough bath for a week, but thanks to the kind-hearted monks at the nearby monastery at least he didn't stink and had relatively clean clothes. But the look in the girl's eyes and her slightly down-turned mouth told him what she thought of him.

_Well, two can do that._

The boy's glare was the first such reaction anyone gave to Rune, and she was about to fall back in surprise despite herself. No one had ever even thought of making the slightest angry gesture at her before, she was so respected and coddled and cherished.

_This boy dared…_

But she was not going to be frightened off. She stood her ground and returned the glare coldly.

Seeing that his usual 'death glare' was not enough to send this intruder off scurrying back to whatever prissy manor she came from, Marco decided a menacing growl was in order:

"Do you know who I am?"

"Obviously, the answer is no," said Rune very calmly, sinking into her most coolly assertive tone. "Otherwise, I'd have surely disciplined you for what right now would have constituted the 'second time around' you've offended me like this."

"Oh, a smart-ass, are you?" He hated that kind of person more than the others, the kind of person who thought she knew everything and was always right all the time. "You're not from here."

"Your observation is correct, thankfully, because I myself wouldn't dream of having anything that bound me to a pathetic place like this."

"You can have it all you want. I don't care about this dump you call a town."

"Oh?" If this is the kind of regional pride the locals have, Rune thought whimsically, then the Italian government have no worries about the province seceding any time soon…

"Yeah. It doesn't care about me at all, so why should I care?" Marco spat aside, an action he found offended this foreigner girl and which he made note to do again later just to piss her off. "Now, get out of here."

Despite her obvious disgust, Rune steeled herself. The image of that flower was fixed crystal clear inside her mind. Besides, this boy dared to command her! _No one commands Rune Minor!_

"No."

"I said, get out."

"I will not."

"What part of 'Get out' do you not understand?" growled the slowly aroused Marco, who was slowly losing his temper to this absolute blockhead who dared to infuriate him. _No one infuriates Marco Innocenzo Testarossa!_ "The words 'get', 'out', the exclamation mark or any of the individual letters?"

"I understand the idea you want to convey perfectly well." But Rune made no move to move. "But I have no intention to leave."

Marco took on threatening step towards her.

In the first visible sign of losing her cool, Rune's pupils snapped wide, and a gasp slipped from her lips. She rushed forward in alarm, throwing herself at Marco's feet. "Don't move!"

The startled boy looked down at his feet, expecting a snake poised to strike or an open hole into the abyss of Hell he was tethering into. He'd have preferred that, believing death better than life.

Instead, he found only a tiny flower just off his left sandal, which Rune was fussing over.

"You stupid blind idiot!" she raged at him. "You nearly stepped on it!" Then she was cooing towards the flower, reassuring it with her soft words and her gentle aura.

Marco had seen many weird things in his short life. He could see dead people, after all, ghosts of all color and natures. But a person talking to and raising a ruckus over a plant somehow seemed to beat all he'd ever seen before.

"A _plant_? You're worked up all over a _plant_?"

"It's Nature, that's what it is!" she returned angrily, glaring.

Suddenly a malevolently wicked urge came to Marco. He broke into a dark smile, the first ever appearance of that infamous smile of his sans the eyeglasses so far off into the future, the sigil that bode of his unpleasant side.

"This is what I think of your 'nature'."

So saying, he trampled the small flower beneath his sandals.

Rune stared in horror at what this boy had done. She shoved him aside and cradled the broken remains of the plant in her hands, flooding it with her healing power, willing it to hold on just long enough so she could save it.

But it was too late. The plant died.

A cold wind swept through the young Druidess, transforming into an insentient sensation whose ice cold claws of darkness finally found purchase upon that innocent heart of hers and turned it towards the shadows. She felt fury like she'd never felt it before, nothing like her childish tantrums, growing up rapidly in that one moment on tragedy.

Rune stood up, green eyes blazing, facing the smirking Marco.

She slapped him.

"Bastard," she hissed.

Marco stood very still.

'Bastard'. The insult echoed repeatedly inside his mind, taunting him, reminding him that he was indeed the bastard child out of wedlock and deserved the name.

But no one said that he had to like it.

And he didn't. Not by a long shot.

When Rune came home that night, her parents and household raised holy hell about how disheveled she was. She would not say what happened to her, she kept to her room and herself that night, her home not feeling like home at all.

When Marco came home, it was to a lashing and verbal abuse from his stepfather who despised him for being who he was. He made no return to his rage and instead spent the night at the monastery, the home that was not his home.

.

            "What kind of person slaps another person for stepping on a plant?"

"What kind of person starts a fight over a slap?"

"I asked first."

"The kind of person who thinks the one who did that is a total jerk, that's what."

"So, I was a jerk back then?"

She raised a cool eyebrow in reply. "Weren't you?"

"So were you."

"_Touch_."

His smile finally became visible.

_"Verum."_

Truth.

                                                                                *         *         *

            The night wore on all too slowly.

Drake had stopped at two bottles, his personal limit for working nights, and though a bit tipsy was still in full control of his senses. Eah was slugging it out with his sixth bottle but wasn't drunk at all, an amazing thing considering that vodka is perhaps the strongest alcoholic drink in the world, especially the two-hundred proof which was almost 100% alcohol that he was downing like water. Either the Filipino pilot had the constitution of an ox (or dinosaur, more likely), was immune to drunkenness, or ran on alcohol like a car on gasoline.

Lavi was of course completely sober. Eah's attempt to 'spike' her bottle of water had resulted in a bent piece of steel pipe, two broken bottles and a series of sore bumps and headaches whose pain the vodka did excellently in suppressing. The monkey wrench was indestructible, hence its lack of damage.

It was Vincent who was in trouble. She'd gone through a quarter of a bottle already, and thought brandy was not as strong as vodka it was pretty potent in itself. Half a bottle would get most anyone drunk.

The worse part was that she had convinced Eah to 'share' just one shot glass of his vodka with her.

A very bad idea…

The American was now thoroughly soused. As such, she was starting to babble about things that weren't for anyone else's ears.

"Do you remember the time when Lyserg accidentally walked into us when Millie and I were changing clothes in our room?"

"I haven't the slightest idea what you are talking about," tried Drake in an attempt to dissuade his companion from embarrassing herself. He had no idea he was almost exactly quoting Jeanne from earlier.

Vincent wasn't exactly listening, though, and could care more.

"But of course you do! I was screaming bloody murder then and trying to rip off Lyserg-_chan_'s cute little head, wasn't I? And Millie looked like she was going to die from embarrassment, the way she was so red in the face."

The ex-Marine was trying to get rid of the image forming inside his head of a half-undressed Vincent putting a sleeper hold on their poor unlucky boss while Millie was doing her imitation of a cherry fruit in the background. He wasn't succeeding very well, so he simply drank his beer again. He was sure Maestro was laughing his head off or in whatever way the psychic laughed.

_"Interesting,"_ commented Maestro; he'd been keeping tab of the discussion. "_You can read minds, too, Malloy?"_

"Shut up," Drake grumped over his beer.

"Lyserg has always been a ladies' man." Eah cackled as he raised his bottle in salute. "'_Yan__ ang pards ko! Da best!"_

Lavi shook her head in disgust.

The motion attracted Vincent's attention. The redhead turned on her.

"So, Lavi-_chan_–"

"I detest the term Lavi-_chan_."

"Whatever. So, what's the story on you and Eah?"

"I thought we told you already," the girl fairly snapped, sounding both impatient and bored. "We're freelance courier pilots who fly a tilt-engine plane and deliver luggage and live lobsters all around the world."

"No, no, no; not that. I know that already." There was mischief in Vincent's eyes, a look that Lavi failed to spot in time. "What I mean is, 'Is there anything between you and Eah'?"

"He's my pilot. Eah's crazy, but he's a good pilot. I can't find anyone else who'd fly with me on the kind of missions we get. Only he does, so I'm stuck with him."

"So," said Vincent, delivering her bombshell, "So he's your boyfriend?"

Their reactions were memorable. The innocent Drake, who happened to be sitting across the table, got a face full of icy water. Beside her, Eah choked on his mouthful of vodka as some of the alcohol went up his nose, making him wheeze and cough and double over.

"WHAT?" Lavi fairly screamed, even as Drake wiped away the water from his face.

"Figures," Vincent giggled as she reared back on her chair. "A cockpit isn't exactly the most romantic of places, but I guess it does enough for you."

Blazing with anger, face as red as the annoying X-Laws' hair and fists clenched tight white, Lavi stormed up on her feet. "Just what do you mean by that?"

"I think you know what I mean by that–"

"I AM NOT HIS GIRLFRIEND! I'M A GIRL AND I'M HIS FRIEND BUT I'M NOT HIS GIRLFRIEND!"

Cringing as he was right now, Drake did distantly remember that quote from a _Pokemon_ movie. He decided not to voice out that Misty _did_ have a big crush on Ash, just as Lavi might have for Eah, however absurd that idea was. Some things are better left secret.

"You're in denial, that's what–"

"HE'S MY PILOT! I'M HIS NAVIGATOR!"

"Double-speak for 'fiancé' and 'beloved'," countered Vincent, getting into full taunting swing. "Is 'Nav' an affectionate term, too?"

"WE'RE PROFESSIONAL PARTNERS!"

"You're not too professional right now… but I'd give you the 'partners' thing, if you like."

Lavi was reaching threateningly for her handy-dandy monkey wrench, perfect for deciding arguments like this.

Drake decided to stay out of this particular fight. _There are some things a real man does not step into._

_"Right,"_ agreed Maestro heartily via psychic message.

"_Pahamak__ ka talaga,_ Fluffychan!" the somewhat recovered but now 'under the weather' Eah groaned. "I'll get you one day, I swear!"

"It's Fluff Inc," his navigator corrected him even as she glared daggers at Vincent, who along with Drake and Maestro didn't know what they were talking about. "She changed her name already about half a month ago."

"Whatever! _Babarilin__ ko nga iyang asar na iyan!"_

"Sheo wouldn't like that. Jess reviews this story very favorably and is a Jeanne-Lyserg fan."

"_Wala__ ako pakeeeeeeeeee!"_The volatile Filipino pilot yanked out his AK from his coat, making Drake duck under the table and Vincent wonder if she went too far. "_Hindi ako natatakot sa kanya! Magkamatayan na tayong lahat rito!"_

Bonk.

No, that was not Lavi who hit him.

"_Eyng__?_What the– _ano__ ito? Pato?"_

There was an orange rubber ducky lying on the ground.

Rather, there was a somewhat shapeless orange contraption that vaguely looked like a poor rubber ducky that had been (quote) 'squished, maimed, and continuously pounded against several large stones in the vicinity' (end quote). It was someone's favorite bath toy (quote) 'massacred mercilessly by his own fiancée' (end quote), borrowed expressly for this moment. We all know to whom this belongs.

(_Stranded,_ anyone? Please don't get angry at me for taking so long, Jess. ^_^)

"I think," Drake rather timidly ventured, the usually big bad X-Laws thoroughly freaked out by his drinking companions, "That we'd better call it a night."

"I concur," managed Vincent in a dazed tone before she toppled over in a dead faint from drunkenness.

_Thank God for that,_ he thought.

"_Gusto kong magwala!"_Eah prepared to fire his gun. "_Magkamatayan__ tayo, Fluff!"___

_Or maybe not…_

In the first time ever described in this fan fiction, Lavi struck out almost effortlessly one-hand style with the monkey wrench. The solid titanium tool connected with the side of Eah's head, freezing him in place. Then he muttered "_Korosu__ Fluff", _tipped over and stayed down for the count.

Lavi managed to hoist the pilot over and onto her back in a fireman's carry, grumbling as she did so.

"He's so pathetic that I can never leave him alone for a minute. I always have to be nearby in order to keep an eye on him. Whatever it is that draws me to pathetic men like Claus and Eah, I have no idea in Heaven." She sighed to herself before she glared at Drake and the absent Maestro. "This never happened," Lavi warned, looking quite a bit frightening as she did so.

The man was all too happy to agree, toting the unconscious Vincent over to their appointed room. Next time, he'd not be as quick to agree to a drinking binge like this…

                                                                                *         *         *

            Their first encounter having ended in disaster, you'd think that they'd have had the common sense to learn the lesson from that debacle: Stay away from each other like the plague. Surely someone logical and in command of their senses such as the two of them would come to that conclusion and adopt it as their guiding philosophy when it came to each other.

But this is Marco and Rune we are talking about.

Day after day, Marco sulked at his usual place. Day after day, Rune walked down that usual path. They would meet, one or the other –usually it was both of them– would remember past issues and grievances with the other (or each other), they would argue and insult each other, and they would almost always end up scuffling, to go back to their respective homes and receive respective reactions from their families.

Almost always, that is, since sometimes they didn't always come to blows whenever they met. Rune was running out of nice robes to wear, such that her mother threatened not to buy her any new ones anymore, much more any clothes at all. Marco didn't mind the beating he received from his stepfather (and occasionally his mother when she felt like it). It was the monks and Father Rasso's long boringly repetitive sermons that were wearing him out.

So, out of common consent –and a testament to their maturity given their respective ages of seven and six–, the two limited their fighting to verbal insults and taunts. It was not as satisfying as punching the offensive miscreant in the nose or pulling her hair (yes, _her_ hair: Marco pulled Rune's hair quite a number of times when they fought; he was just a kid, he didn't know boys shouldn't do that to girls, bad Marco…) but it was gentler on clothes and didn't get beatings or sermons since there was no proof whatsoever of any guilt.

Naturally they ran out of inventive curses soon enough, so their rivalry took on a new phase. They'd pick a topic –such as how Marco's hair looked like a wheat field _after_ a tornado had its run of it, or how Rune's traditional Druidic robes were totally out of fashion– and then argue over it passionately, going over points and counterpoints endlessly, picking at ever nook and cranny they could find in the other's logical armor. It was such that Rune took to researching extensively in her family's vast library and Marco asking for –and receiving, thought not without a few baffled looks from the monks who gave it to him– tutorials on how to read and write and debate.

As the years went by, Rune grew up to be a lovely young woman, slender as a willow but stern as iron, pale as the moon but with a spirit fiery like the sun. For his part Marco didn't do too shabbily, for despite his past life of suffering and privations he turned out to be a good-looking enough lad who –though somewhat given to cool moodiness– could be quite fiery and voluble when provoked. He also took to wearing glasses to correct his eyesight. His first pair of them was from Rune, actually, when she noticed Marco had difficulty in seeing and took her friend over to an ophthalmologist and got corrective spectacles for the first time in his life.

Yes, you read it right.

Nine years saw the evolution from hateful childhood enemies to respectful rivals to distant and yet very close friends.

And for close friends, saying goodbye is always very painful…

.

            The pond where they first met had grown into a small glen, as lush with life as surely as their relationship had changed from harsh to distantly friendly. As usual Marco was there mucking to himself, and as usual Rune came up the old dirt path, now verdant green with the famine over thanks to her work.

For a long while they simply stood there and stared at the pond, burdened by their own thoughts and feelings, taking comfort and reassurance in the presence of the other just aside. As usual, it was Rune who broke the silence and spoke first.

"You're leaving."

"Yes. Tomorrow I go to Rome. The old monks and Father Rasso think I have some 'potential'."

"Do you want to be a priest?" she asked quietly.

"I know of nothing else that I can be. I guess I have no choice in that."

"Don't you? Don't we?"

"I don't know," he admitted, the first time he'd done so ever to her.

"I'm leaving too, you now," said Rune all of a sudden. That brought Marco's head up.

"You're going back to Ireland?"

"My mission here's done. I've a new one to begin."

"Never-ending battle, the old ones say."

"Yes."

They could think of nothing else to say for the moment, so they kept quiet. Then Rune took off the ring around her finger.

It was very simple, really, a small globe of deep emerald affixed to a gold band. It didn't look to be centuries old, carefully kept and tended as it was by its bearers, but it was a long-held sign of cherished trust and deep emotional connection of a Druid for her work and for the people she helped. Her mother had given her this as a token of her love for her daughter.

Now Rune would pass it on to another.

At the same time, Marco had pulled out of his clothes a simple silver pendant. It had a small crucifix as its focal point of adornment. This was the first and the only material gift he'd ever received, given to him by the generous-hearted monks when he had first come to the monastery for aid and succor, a reminder of how God works in mysterious ways and how all should keep the faith even in trying circumstances.

Now it would leave Marco's hands and go into another's.

She put her ring in Marco's hand.

He put his pendant into Rune's hand.

There was no formality in the exchange. There was no need for it. Tokens and gestures were enough.

Then, their emotions finally getting the better of them for the first time, they embraced each other tightly.

"Good luck, Marco Innocenzo Testarossa," finally said Rune softly, even smiling the first pleasant smile and shedding the first honest tears she had ever done in her life, calling Marco by his proper full name with respect and affection.

He smiled, too, and did the same for her. "You, too, Rune Minor. You, too."

And then they left, never to see each other again for a lifetime…

.

            The moonlight fell glistening upon an emerald gemstone and a silver cross.

"Fancy you still wear it."

"You as well, too."

"First thing that told me that was you on the other side, actually."

"Oh?"

"If you hadn't noticed, my ring has a rather detectable and familiar aura."

"The Druids and their adornments." He would have said toys, but that was disrespectful. Then he smiled. "Do you know how much trouble this ring had done for us? How many good ambushes got spoiled because some Shaman would sense its presence and ring the alarm?"

"Spare me. You think it was bad with you, but it was worse for me."

"Hao and the symbols of Christian faith never really got to an agreement?"

"You might say that. Crosses were okay with him–" She should know; Rune amongst other people had started the trend among Hao and company of wearing all-black minister clothes _and_ the suggestive cross insignia. "–But crucifixes somewhat got on his nerve. I think he knew I had yours on, but he didn't say or do anything about it. I'd have cut his hands off if he dared take or touch them."

"And get fed to the Spirit of Flame for your troubles," he dryly finished the thought for her.

"And the Iron Maiden never got on your case for having a Druidic ring on your person?"

"She did. Just once, but once was enough."

"And?" She was curious, even though she knew the answer to her question. That irritated him a bit.

"And I told her it was a gift from a childhood friend from way back."

"And?"

"You're annoying, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"She smiled and laughed at me, saying she'd never had thought I'd have a childhood, let alone a childhood friend who'd give me a mark of her affection."

She pretended offense at that term: "Affection?"

"Her words, not mine."

"Oh? What about your opinion on that?"

"Forget it."

"Fine by me."

But they both knew the answer to that. They'd known it for a lifetime's worth.

                                                                                *         *         *

            "I love you."

Lyserg lay very still and quiet.

Millie was draped over him like the gentle weight of a blanket, her face lightly resting upon his chest, one hand around his back, the other on his side. She smelled of baby roses, sweet, delicate. Her eyes were distant and distracted, lost in thought and feeling, lost in him.

"I love you," she repeated softly. "I do, Lyserg Diethyl."

"Millie…"__

"Do you know how much I love you? I love you to death, Lyserg. I truly do."

He couldn't answer or resist despite himself, he couldn't push her away. He wondered if he was betraying Jeanne by this, but found his mind riveted completely on the frail girl who was so close to him, as close to him as the Iron Maiden had ever been, totally enchanted by her voice that now sang out her heart's hidden feelings.

Her face moved up to his, almost as if she wanted to kiss him. Her lips moved slowly, softly, entrancingly.

"But do you know the sad thing about me, Lyserg?" she asked.

He didn't. His beautiful green eyes told her that truth. Her unhappy blue eyes told him that truth.

"You can't love me back."

Then Millie reluctantly let go of Lyserg, the hidden songstress knowing that doing so meant she would forevermore relinquish him to her angelic rival's arms.

And yet she wasn't unhappy about that. No, not at all…

"I hope you know how wonderful it is to have her," she said softly. "Please, Lyserg. Know how much she is to you, and never let her go."

She turned to leave him.

"Millie?"

She looked back at him.

Lyserg smiled tiredly.

"Thank you."

She shyly returned his smile.

And then Millie walked out of her fantasy life with Lyserg Diethyl, never to return.

                                                                                *         *         *

            "In _The Ashes of Eden,_ James Kirk said once that 'starship captains think they were invincible.' When he was asked why that was so, he sadly and proudly smiled and said, 'They have to be. It's their job.'

"Tell me, Jeanne." Rione Asuka Hunter showed not a trace of amusement or waywardness, she was sad and serious, the tone of a very old and tired soul. "Are you invincible?"

For once she lacked an answer. It was surprising. When there was a crisis or mystery, the X-Laws would always turn to her for advice and commands. She knew everything, it seemed. She had to know everything.

She was the Iron Maiden, after all.

"It's my duty as the Iron Maiden," she finally said. "I must suffer for the good of all."

"When does your duty as Iron Maiden begin and end? Where does your duty to _yourself_ begin and end?"

She couldn't answer. She had no answer to give.

"Ever since you've been a child, you've known that you were special. You were brought up alone and tended in a special way according to your destiny. You were told you were going to be the savior of the world. You were taught that and many other things. You're not like any other child in the world. You were special.

"Even as young as you are, you're far above and ahead of many people in terms of experience and wisdom. You've seen and done many things in your short lifetime that many people couldn't even begin to claim they've done all their lives. You've fought a war like no other, you and a few others, a war with the fate of the world in the balance of things. You won.

"You've been through many things. Many of them you'd rather not have seen. Many of them are sad things. Many of them are hurtful. Many of them are those you'd rather not have done or seen.

"Many of these things, you were the only one left."

Rione did not blink, gazing at Jeanne very sadly. "You're right about one thing, Jeanne. You suffer for the good of all.

"But that doesn't meant you have to suffer for everything."

Silence…

And then Jeanne spoke.

"Porf. Venstar. Denbat. Larch. Cebin."

The silver-haired girl pronounced every name with finality, remembering the X-Laws of old, remembering the bearers of those names and their fates at war's end…

She remembered that they had all died for her.

She remembered that they had died because of her.

They died because of her.

Was that why she had nightmares? Did she blame herself for their deaths? No, not just them, not just the X-Laws: For everyone who had died because of her. Innocents and guilty alike, Shamans and normal people, even those who followed Hao, she felt their deaths weigh heavily on her.

And she realized that it was what she really was all about.

She realized what the purpose of the Iron Maiden was, why she did not have the power to destroy Hao, why she could only lead and heal, why she could not fight for herself.

The Iron Maiden existed not to destroy Hao or protect Shamans or save the world from destruction.

The Iron Maiden was there to take the sorrows and pains of the world as her own private cross, so that the world could heal from its hurts in peace.

_Realize the girl's alive,_ she heard someone say.

Who said it, she knew not. But the girl meant by that pitying comment was…

It was her.

.

One last name remained: The last, but the first and the greatest.

_"Lyserg.__ Remain innocent and kind, even after this, even after the end…"_

_"Farewell…"_

.

"Meene…"

.

Jeanne could no longer continue. She didn't want to anymore.

She was crying too badly to go on.

"Jeanne."

Rione was hugging her tightly, a protective gesture of support of one friend to another. "It's not your fault," she said softly, comfortingly. "It's not your fault."

And she realized it was true.

And realization was followed by acceptance.

And acceptance brought peace.

Jeanne looked up to her friend and smiled happily despite her tears.

"Thank you, Rione. Thank you very much."

                                                                                *         *         *

            "Eriol?"

As usual he was in the balcony outside his bedroom windows, quietly musing over past memories and today's events and the promises tomorrow bring. As usual his thoughts had to be broken by custom and necessity. He turned to the call.

A hand holding her long white sleeping gown close around her as she walked barefoot, graceful as a slight midnight breeze, Tomoyo glided over to her fiancé's side.

"Having second thoughts?"

"More like last regrets," answered the rather pensive Eriol.

"Oh? Last regrets?"

"Yes."

They stood there, side by side, looking out at the world around and outside. Hands automatically sought their opposite numbers, grasped them and held on gently, a direct physical link between two people, symbolic of the devotion and dedication they had for each other. Hearts beat as one, soft and tender, faint and infinite.

"Theirs and mine, all the same," he admitted.

"Yes."

.

            Drake was very surprised to find out how strong Vincent was, even drunk and sleepy as she was.

She grabbed onto his uniform before he could react, pulled him down onto the bed and plopped her head against his broad chest before losing herself into sleep at last.

The big man rolled his eyes. She could be such a pain in the ass almost all the time, but despite her affected bravado Vincent was in the end just another helpless kitten to be taken care of.

He made as if to stand up, and in unconscious reaction Vincent pulled him back down, punched him several times as if to straighten him out, muttered "Stupid pillow" and went back to her happy dreamland.

So, getting the best out of a bad situation, he simply tried to make himself as comfortable on the bed as he awkwardly could, taking care not to disturb the redhead using him as a pillow as he went so. Drake aimed one quick prayer to Heaven, closed his eyes, and tried to sleep as best as he could.

He saw the slight smile on the corner of her mouth while he did, though, and that kind of scared him.

.

            Grumbling at having to exert herself so late in the night, Lavi regarded the sight before her with even greater dismay.

Not only was Eah unconscious as a rock (and not to mention as heavy as one), he was also snoring very audibly. She could have sworn the entire Orca Transport shivered and shook alongside its pilot. Thankfully he seemed totally out of it and was unable to make a further nuisance of himself for this night…

Eah jumped up on his feet, growled "I'm gonna get you, Fluff, _omae__ wo korosu_" and then fainted dead away back into sleep.

Needless to say, Lavi was very startled. Or not, considering her partner had been doing this ever since they'd first hitched up together as a team. One of Eah's habits was to participate in his dreams a little bit too much, so much that one wondered how much his real world was separated from the dream world.

_Now that was way too Matrix for me. Lavi, you need some sleep._

Eah snored.

"Oh, put a lid on it," she growled at him out of sheer aggravation.

Surprisingly, Eah did just that. His snore toned down to quiet levels. Lavi stared at him, wondering suspiciously if he was really awake and teasing her.

_Just what it is that attracts me to pathetic idiots like him, I have no idea in Heaven or Hell…_

And then Lavi sighed to herself again before she rearranged the blanket covers on the sleeping pilot and tucked him in tight and comfy in his chair.

"Sweet dreams, Eah," she told him softly before she herself finally rested upon her own bed. "Good night."

Even as she slipped into the drowsiness before sleep, she thought she heard him answer, "'_Kaw__ rin_, Nav. _Ikaw__ rin_…"

And that made Lavi smile.

.

            As she let sleep claim her, one last thought came to Millie. _I wonder,_ she thought, _I wonder who he is thinking of now?_

She decided she knew who that girl was.

Despite herself, she was happy for him.

And that was perhaps the best thing she'd ever felt in her life.

"Be happy, Lyserg. Be happy for yourself and for her… and for me, too..."

.

            "Jeanne," thought Lyserg before he fell asleep.

.

            A world away…

"Lyserg," murmured Jeanne in her sleep.

.

            Marco fingered the ring she had given him.

Rune touched the crucifix around her neck.

They both smiled faintly.

"It's been a long road," he fairly sang, "Getting from there to here."

"It's been a long time," she agreed, "But our time is finally here."

.

            "Do you think they will make it?"

"Do _you_?"

"Yes."

"Then you know my answer."

"Let's rest, Eriol. We've got a long day ahead of us."

He smiled at her, and she smiled at him.

"Let's, indeed."

                                                                                *         *         *

_It´s__ been a long road, getting from there to here._

_It´s__ been a long time, but my time is finally near._

_And I can feel the change in the wind right now. Nothing´s in my way._

_And they´re not gonna hold me down no more, no they´re not gonna hold me down._

_._

_Cause I´ve got faith of the heart._

_I´m__ going where my heart will take me.___

_I´ve__ got faith to believe. I can do anything._

_I´ve__ got strength of the soul. And no one´s gonna bend or break me._

_I can reach any star. I´ve got faith, I´ve got faith, faith of the heart._

_._

_It´s__ been__ a long night. Trying to find my way._

_Been through the darkness.__ Now I finally have my day._

_And I will see my dream come alive at last. I will touch the sky._

_And they´re not gonna hold me down no more, no they´re not gonna change my mind._

_._

_Cause I´ve got faith of the heart._

_I´m__ going where my heart will take me.___

_I´ve__ got faith to believe. I can do anything._

_I´ve__ got strength of the soul. And no one´s gonna bend or break me._

_I can reach any star. I´ve got faith, faith of the heart._

_._

_I´ve__ known the wind so cold, and seen the darkest days._

_But now the winds I feel, are only winds of change._

_I´ve__ been__ through the fire and I´ve been through the rain._

_But I´ll be fine._

_._

_Cause I´ve got faith of the heart._

_I´m__ going where my heart will take me.___

_I´ve__ got faith to believe. I can do anything._

_I´ve__ got strength of the soul. And no one´s gonna bend or break me._

_I can reach any star. I´ve got faith._

_._

_I´ve__ got faith of the heart._

_I´m__ going where my heart will take me.___

_I´ve__ got strength of the soul. And no one´s gonna bend or break me._

_I can reach any star. I´ve got faith, I´ve got faith, faith of the heart._

_._

_It´s__ been__ a long road.___

.

.

            "It's been a long road," Rione repeated softly. "But I've got faith of the heart, faith to believe I can do anything, strength of the soul that no one can bend or break. I've got faith; I'm going to where my heart will take me. I can reach any star; I've got faith, I've got faith."

She smiled.

"I've got faith of the heart…"

.

                                                                                                                                                                      **_Itutuloy_****_…_**

.

.

**Sheo's**** Notes: **And after five days straight (not counting interruptions due to going to my friend's place to watch _Naruto_ and play some _Ragnarok__ Online,_ going out to watch _Hellboy_, my brother getting addicted on _The Sims_ and _GTA: Vice City_, my addiction to _Teen Titans _and _Enterprise, _and lots of other trivial stuff) of working on this, I, Sheo Darren, am proud to present the ninth chapter of _Iron Maiden and Dowser Knight_, titled _Second Thoughts, Last Regrets._

(Celebrations are being held in the background.)

            This is the longest chapter I've written for this particular story, longer than the first five chapters put together at twenty-one pages. There were just so many things begging to be inserted here: Lyserg-Jeanne (sort of, however distant it seems), Lyserg-Millie (hate to break followers of that pairing, but…), Marco-Rune, Eah-Lavi (more on that later) and Eriol-Tomoyo but in a distant way only. The background to Marco and Rune's cat-and-dog relationship took me a while to formulate and finalize. As for their future as a couple? Let's just say I have a surprise that will rock your worlds.

            Disclaimers _lang__ muna_: The song _Where My Heart Will Take Me_ is the opening song of the latest _Star Trek_ series _Enterprise__._ It's also the first _Trekkie_ opening to have lyrics. It's a very lovely song despite what some might think, tradition or otherwise.****

            This particular chapter deserves to be called 'The Fluff Inc Special'. I've mentioned and quoted four (count that!) four fan fiction written by Fluff Inc., the former Fluffychans. They're _Strawberry Ice Cream, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Ice Breaker_ and_ Stranded. (_If there are any others mentioned, tell me.) Also, the Eah-Lavi scenes here are all dedicated to her for that one inquisitive review she'd made. Personal note _lang__,_ Jess-_chan_: It's **_not_** really them as a pair; my brother is annoyed that you think so, however cute it seems. He's already got a pairing for Eah. ^-^'

            Kudos to Nagumo for her story _Exaudi__ Nos Misrere_, for portions and doses of humor I've borrowed and appropriated for my own story's use. When are you updating it?

            **VERY IMPORTANT FOR MY READERS: ** I am posting this Wednesday morning or evening, April 28, 2004, Philippine time. For this chapter, I am also going to start a new practice for my fan fiction in heavily trafficked sections. I will post the SAME chapter again in four days after the date the chapter first comes out (that would be Sunday), so that other readers who missed it initially can read the latest chapter even while I'm stuck on the next ones.

            Two more chapters to go (maybe three; I don't know... wait, that rhymed), and then… who knows? Even I don't. But what I do know is that I enjoy writing this, and I know and continue hoping that you also do. I'll do my best to keep you guys and myself happy; in turn, I ask that you help me in whatever way you can to keep this story and the approaching sequel just as memorable.

            Thanks in advance to all of you. Enjoy ManKin forever.


	12. Eleven: Towards The End

**Disclaimer:** Sheo _tsumanai__…_ ManKin not mine. _Card Captor_ neither. _Steel Angel Kurumi_ also. Lavi, Eah, Rione, Millie, Rune mine… _tsumanai__…_

(In the background, Marion 'Mari' Phauna pouts and Yuuki Darren shakes her head in disapproval.)

("Sheo is ripping off Mari's lines…")

("It isn't the only thing he rips off…")

("Bad Yuuki…")

**Previously, on "The Romancers"...******

_It´s__ been a long road, getting from there to here._

_It´s__ been a long time, but my time is finally near._

_And I can feel the change in the wind right now. Nothing´s in my way._

_And they´re not gonna hold me down no more, no they´re not gonna hold me down._

_I´ve__ got faith of the heart._

_I´m__ going where my heart will take me.___

_I´ve__ got faith to believe. I can do anything._

_I´ve__ got strength of the soul. And no one´s gonna bend or break me._

_I can reach any star. I´ve got faith, I´ve got faith, faith of the heart._

_It's been a long road…_

            This chapter is dedicated to fellow writer Nagumo, a Meene specialist whose ManKin work on this tragic girl has been so influential on me that I have drastically retooled my story's ending and possible sequel to incorporate new themes inspired by her stories. Her insights and ideas are just so good that I can't help but want to adopt some of them and see how my translation would come out. Thank you very much for giving me something new to live out.

**The Romancers**

**Set One: Shaman King**

**By: Sheo Darren**

**Iron Maiden and Dowser Knight**

**Chapter Eleven: Towards The End**

            She watched the sunrise burst upon the skyline with an impassive face and a heart set in stone. There had been enough sunrises and sunsets she'd witness in her life– in both of her lives, old and new, the past and the present. She was lucky in a sense. Too many people would never see this dawn, would never live out this day to the utmost the way they should. She'd had a hand in cutting short so many of those promising lives, her once-white gloves stained deep in crimson with blood of the guilty and the innocent. She didn't like to see blood, but she saw it too often doing things that ended with blood on her and her victim and all around. She'd tried to stop caring, really tried once or twice or so many times, she'd forgotten already.

But she couldn't. She couldn't pretend not to care.

She simply and inexplicably kept on caring.

It was not as if she was tired of it all, or that she was emotionless. To her old companions she was a paradox that continuously awaited definition, a persona constantly evolving in ways they could never fully comprehend, an impossible clash of character but undeniably who she was: Herself. She was the kindest and the most normal of them, but at the same time she was the scariest and the darkest of them. She was fire and ice, sky and earth, angel and devil, Heaven or Hell, one and the other and both put together all at the same time.

She simply _was_.

She looked out to the city before her. The city called Tomoeda.

It was her destination.

It was where she would find them. It was where they would meet again.

She and three souls linked together in an indefinably mystifying loom woven together by Fate, they would meet again at last.

_Marco._

_Rune.___

_Lyserg.___

_Herself.___

"Past and present," she mused once more.

_Past and present… and the future…_

Gathering herself together, she took up walking once more and headed towards the city.

            It was a pleasant morning that greeted the waking occupants of the Daidouji Manor, a herald of a most promisingly lovely day–perhaps the best gift to the seven souls who would be undertaking the most critical and dangerous journey of their lives.

Today was the day of the rescue of Iron Maiden Jeanne D'Arc.

The X-Laws were all dressed up and ready for action. Weapons were cleaned, ammunition checked and loaded. They would be traveling lightly, carrying only enough water and rations for two days. Everyone was well rested and –if not in exactly good spirits– weren't under the weather, either. Even Rune seemed sunny enough (or at least less chilly than usual), for the moment leaving off her habit of antagonizing Marco, which everyone gladly gave thanks to God for. Marco for his part made no effort to be his customary scary self _and_ kept off trying to pick a fight with Rune.

Indeed, the two senior X-Laws seemed to have set aside their differences ever since yesterday. There was even the suggestion of an entirely different relationship in place now– or was their rivalry just a cover, this new 'amiable' rapport actually the real deal between them? Was there more than met the eye? Rune did not entertain the few questions aimed her way, and when Eah timidly asked Marco about it, the man growled at him in a manner worthy of his moniker 'The Roman Lion'. Naturally, Eah retreated, and everyone wisely kept their opinions to themselves.

There were, of course, exceptions. Drake seemed stiff and sore and somewhat tired, but shrugged off Lyserg's inquiries to his health merely by attributing it to a bad hangover. His drinking companions didn't say anything to the contrary despite knowing that three beers are not enough to mess one up the way their friend was. They also said nothing of their suspicions that something just might have happened last night to him. Some secrets are meant to be kept, especially with drinking buddies.

Worse off was Vincent, who had not only downed half a liter of potent brandy last night but also taken one slug out of Eah Osborne's vodka. Result: The worst hangover ever to walk the Earth. Put in words: "Somebody please stop that damn giant jackhammer from busting my head, will you?"

Tomoyo took the matter in hand, making Vincent drink a curative tea that did wonders in removing the hangover, all the while humming a gentle song that somehow helped restore a hale feeling within the American.

"Was that magic?" Lyserg posed to her. Everyone had felt the faintest undercurrent of power while Tomoyo sang, but the girl in question only smiled mysteriously in answer, amusing Eriol with her accurate imitation of his best 'Clow Read face'.

"My own special magic, Lyserg, a little bit of both me and a special person who shares me, a power of words and music that is inherent in all song."

And they had to be content with that.

In absolute dissimilarity to the two X-Laws was Eah Osborne, cheerful and noisy and crazy as always, and who was also totally lacking even the trace of a shadow of a hangover despite emptying half a dozen vodkas. In direct contrast to the Filipino maverick pilot was his navigator Lavi, who was as usual somewhat pessimistic but resigned to the inevitable– and if you can't beat them, join them, the restrained but well-meant smile she bore evident.

Even Maestro worked hard to keep a pall off this day, keeping unobtrusively behind the others, toning his presence down as to almost be an especially humble and placid part of the background. Everyone ignored him; he in turn kept out of everyone's way.

Millie was perhaps the most striking of the lot aside from Marco and Rune. Gone were the shyness and the image of a frail helpless child she conveyed. The willowy waif seemed different somehow, more assertive, more mature and capable. She was still the same pretty girl who broke into song to hold her audience captive, still the same timid ash-blonde girl who had an immense crush on her team leader, still the same childish girl at whose adoptive side bounced Red, her adopted pet Haro. Yet there was no shaking the feeling that she was all grown up now, and she reflected this change in every small facet of her persona.

In fact, Marco would have sworn Millie was almost exactly Meene right now.

Finally, there was Lyserg himself. The handsome young dowser, leader of the X-Laws, bore a set of maps tucked within the crook of his left elbow, his right arm gloved, pendant held within. At his shoulder hovered Morphine, the faerie glowing both with its distinctive aura and unmistakable pride in her master, an emotion openly shared by the boy she swore herself to.

The Tomoeda bunch was fully represented. Tomoyo and Eriol were as usual together holding hands and being such a reticently sweet pair without their even trying. Happy-go-lucky Nakuru was carrying the composed Suppi in her arms, both Guardians positioned at the couple's left while Mizuki assertively took the spot immediately on their right.

There were also four new faces, a boy and a girl both about the same age as Tomoyo and Eriol, a young man, and a yellow-orange version of Suppi the black cat. The boy had unruly russet hair and light brown eyes and a grumpy but handsome Chinese face. The girl had short hair the same shade as her companion's pupils matched with emerald green eyes and a sunny nature paired well with her cute looks. The young fair-haired man wore spectacles and an effusive smile. The Sun Guardian –it had to be, it looked exactly like Suppi and ostensibly served the same role for the new girl– was a miniature _kawaii_ winged lion that might have passed for a stuffed toy.

Eriol smiled genially at the assembled group. Elegantly gesturing to the newcomers, he began, "May I introduce you to Kinimoto Sakura and Syaoran Li, Card Mistress and Card Captor respectively, both very good friends of ours and fellow sorcerers who will help us cast the spell. Also, this is Tsukishiro Yukito who is my former Moon Guardian Yue, and Keroberos, my former Sun Guardian. Sakura-_chan_, Li-_kun_, Tsukishiro-_kun,_ Kero-_chan_ the X-Laws."

After greetings were exchanged, the preparations for the gate spell's casting commenced. Lyserg unrolled the maps he carried upon the ground and went to work, his crystal pendant held over them, the enchanted gem moving ever so slightly above the parchment in the manner of dowsers searching for lost items, his face a mask of calm concentration. On the world map, the pendant stopped over New Zealand. On the map of the country itself, it halted over the mainland.

"Here." Lyserg pointed to a spot on the map. "Here is where we go."

"Are you sure?" quietly asked Eriol.

He looked up to all of them, confident in himself and in the girl he sought. "My heart tells me so."

Taking Lyserg for his word, the blue-haired reincarnate set the next phase of preparation. The girl named Sakura took out the Cards that bore her name– the Sakura Cards that once were Eriol's as Clow Read. He selected just two of them: Time and Return. He laid them before him and turned to the X-Laws for an explanation.

"These are the Cards whose powers we will need to cast the Gate spell: Time, both halting and speeding up the passing of time for you and us; and Return, she who will come with you in order to bring you back to our world from the place you go to. These two Cards will form the dual base for our spell, the core components that will compose the Gate we will open.

"We sorcerers will cast the spell and provide the power to sustain it." Eriol became somber. "Me. Sakura. Syaoran."

A hush fell on the garden.

"Tomoyo."

Everyone looked to the heir of the Daidouji clan. She met their gazes with a peaceful one of her own, her eyes holding her fiancé peacefully, reassuring him and all the others even with this revelation that she was still Daidouji Tomoyo and that she would stand by them whatever follows next.

Syaoran spoke next. "Can we do it?"

First Tomoyo, then Eriol nodded.

"Yes. We have to."

            Jeanne and Rione were immersed in last-minute arrangements of their own. At the moment, it consisted of choosing something for the Iron Maiden to wear.

"_Mou__, _this will certainly _not_ do at all! _May mas gaganda pa kaysa dito!_ I _know_ there is one! _Basta__, alam ko na mayroon!_"

"_Anou__,_ Rione, maybe we shouldn't fuss too much–"

"_Ah_, but we **_have_** to, Jeanne-_chan_!" The counter was punctuated very effectively, Rione shoving her very determinedly obstinate face almost right into her friend's startled own. "_Today_ is **_special_**! _Today_ is the day you and Lyserg-_kun_ will be reunited! Your true love story will continue! Your love storm will reach its peak! Your endless love will be consummated, winter sonata and summer scent and all others! You will go back to your meteor garden, your west side story, your truth! Go, girl, keep marching on to that happy place!"

(Anyone can plainly see in her choice of metaphors that Rione is a _Chinovela_ and _Koreanovela_addict. Poor her, we must all pity her. Someone call Dao Ming Xi, please; she's getting really scary. )

Jeanne just had to give in. She even sort of felt it was her fault the Filipina was keying herself up to a fever pitch. After all, Rione was a dedicated friend who would stop at nothing to get what she believed was the best out of life for those she cared for. The Romancer worried a lot for Jeanne and did her utmost to help her out, going to the extent of 'kidnapping' her (Honestly, would Marco allow the Iron Maiden to go on break? The Romancers think not), springing a relaxing 'vacation' as a surprise, raining gifts and jokes and advice and friendship when needed and even when not, all just to encourage and reassure her.

She may have a weird way of expressing it, but Rione truly cared for her friend.

So, Jeanne simply waited patiently while the former plowed through piles and piles of clothes with reckless abandon. The running commentary turned up interesting tidbits about Rione, her organization, the owners of the house and various other topics.

"Rei might have been an expert Gundam pilot/mechanic/assassin/the works, but when it comes to fashion sense she unfortunately has a lot to make up for– a habit equally unfortunate in being shared by dear _Kuya_ Quatre Raberba Winner. Lucky for her Rylan knows clothes and that blonde –Dorothy– takes it as a personal matter of honor to get her sister-in-law dressed all right. Heck, even _I_ dress better than Rei, _at hindi pa ako maarte sa pinipili kong damit_! _Kuso__, _we really need a fashion advising section for the Romancers! _Kailangan__ na kailangan!_ Check memorandum! _Kailangan_ _sosyal__ at astig!_"

After a while, Jeanne decided to tend to herself while Rione was still sorting things out. She studied her reflection in the mirror, observing the peacefully attractive features of the girl before the mirror, the girl who was supposed to be Iron Maiden Jeanne of the X-Laws. She could hardly believe it herself, she who was after all who she was.

That and a whole lot more.

Small hands gently pushed back the foremost of her long silvery-blue mane, letting the soft weight settle into place while she fastened a scarf on them, the lace that held all that in place tied up beneath her chin. The bandanna framed her soft angular face perfectly, her hair seemingly falling out from it like a gray curtain of rainwater spills down from clouds that bear it to the world below. She was reminded of Kyouyama Anna, who adopted much the same manner and gear. The girl sighed softly, wondering what the boy in her heart would say when they'd meet again at last.

Jeanne had a good idea about his answer.

"YES!"

Garments went flying into the air, a tee-shirt even ending up on top of one of the lazily-spinning ceiling fan's blades and staying there, the poor thing. But Rione couldn't care less. She brandished her find as if it was the most valuable thing in the world that had just fallen into her hands now, her golden-brown face decorated by perhaps the biggest victory smile Jeanne had seen yet on her.

"Miss Jeanne, I would like you to congratulate me. To quote Éclair from _Kiddy Grade_: **_Tah-Dah_**!"__

So saying, she presented her one-in-a-million find.

It was a dress.

"Um, Rione?" Jeanne very delicately put it, aware that her friend might be offended but feeling that she just had to say it.

"Yeah?"

"It looks almost exactly like my Iron Maiden costume."

The Filipina's good spirits could not be dampened, not even by all the rainstorms and heartbreaks in the world. She grinned even more at Jeanne's off-hand remark.

"Exactly."

            **"****NO WAY****!"**

Lavi was angry.

Wait. Backtrack on that one for a moment.

She was not angry.

She was not _just_ angry.

Lavi was all the synonyms for the word 'angry' and any other metaphor or slang for that particular emotion put together into this gigantic mega-emotion (the English language lacks so many critical words…)

This lone sentence needs no further explanation. The readers certainly don't want to be scared. Lavi is scary when angry et al.

Now, why would she be in the first place?

Well, for starters, her pilot partner came up with another crazy idea of his.

'_As usual_', if we may say so ourselves.

"No way! Absolutely **_no_** way, Eah! You've come up with a lot of cockamamie ideas before, and I've patiently borne them out– even when we came close to getting our hides aired out permanently, and that happened in _all_ of the cases we've been in! I've kept my peace for God knows how long so much, I think I'll apply for martyrdom or saint status because I've certainly earned it, _no _thanks to _you_! I feel like I'm six**_ty_**even though I'm just six**_teen_** and feeling it _especially_ because of _you_! You hear _me_? _You_ are _not_ leaving _me_ here! Understand?"

Eah Osborne was genuinely puzzled. This was the most acerbic tantrum his navigator had ever thrown. Lavi was pure vitriol over the slightest of slights, a total inverse of Rione. This was her at her worst, and he honestly thought that reaction was totally uncalled for.

After all, he'd just said, "Lavi, _sasama__ lang ako kay_ Lyserg, _ha?_"

_Lavi, I think I'll tag along with Lyserg into kingdom come and receive certain death by oblivion, annihilation, incineration, disintegration and all the rest put together for good measure,_ _okay? _was how she had translated it. She buried her face in one hand and groaned at the thought.

"Ah…"

For a moment, she thought she was the one who said those words, muttering Eah's name under her breath like a curse. Then Lavi realized that it was Eah speaking.

"…_Ito naman, o. _Joke only._ Hindi ka na mabiro, Nav."_

She stared at him. He grinned sheepishly at her.

"_Masyado__ kang _tense _at mainitin ang ulo_, Nav. _Nagbibiro__ lang yung tao, ganyan ka na mag-_react_. 'Kaw naman, _you think I'll leave you withOrca Transport here?" Eah broke into his usual loco laugh, his intended gag now evident to all. "No way! _Kay _Eah_ 'ata yang er'planong 'yan!"_

Lavi stared at him for a long moment, unable to react even as the impact of his words registered inside her mind, even as she realized she would not be left alone– her greatest fear in the world. Then, she broke into a swell of tears and tackled Eah violently, sweeping the unsuspecting Filipino into a bearish hug.

"Eh? Nav?"

_"Sira,"_ she sobbed into his clothes, totally soft and vulnerable and not caring a whit that she was showing it, the terrible memories of her past reaching for her once more, a time when she was lonely and without hope and life– until her new friend came along and brought her into the light_. "'Wag mo akong biruin nang ganyan. Ayoko ng ganyang biro. Ayokong maisip man lang na maiwan akong mag-isa uli. Ayokong maging nag-iisa. Ayoko. Ayoko."_

_Idiot.__ Don't tease me like that. I don't like jokes like that. I don't want to even think of being left alone to myself. I don't want to be alone. I don't. I don't._

Eah blushed, sort of chuckled and patted Lavi on the back reassuringly. "'_Dehins__,_ Nav. _'Di kita iiwan.__ Peksman."_

"_Arigatou__…"_

"Can we cut your scene short?" That was Vincent, who was looking rather sour watching the drama play out. "I'm not exactly in the mood for sappy love stories like yours, so will you two stop emoting so much and–"

Seeing Eah irritably aim his AK at her and Lavi follow suit with a death glare –the latter's hand going to the trusty titanium tool that was her handy-dandy wrench for good measure– the X-Laws trooper decided to shut up before she got killed or worse.

_"Wise decision,"_ Maestro observed psychically. Vincent decided not to tell her teammate where to shove it.

"_Muntik__ ko nang makalimutan, a." _Remembering last night's teasing spree annoyed Eah. "_Patay__ yang Fluff Inc na 'yan sa akin maya-maya."_

"Leave some for me," Lavi growled in agreement, feeling happier now despite her effected grievance.

"Sure thing, Nav. _Walang__ problema, sagot kita."___

            Marco and Rune very unobtrusively observed the X-Laws regard them with badly-disguised misgiving, as though they were going to die soon or start World War Three. They pretended to be ignorant of the stares and whispers going their way, speaking softly with each as not to be heard by anyone else except for them.

"Opinions, Minor? Conspiracies? Significance of Malloy and Granger gossiping like old women while aiming furtive glances at us?"

"Apparently, Testarossa, they are wondering what sickness or evil spirits had taken over us."

"Oh?" His ironic tone wasn't meant for her. "Really?"

"We aren't exactly acting like our 'normal' selves, remember?" The way she said the word 'normal' reeked of sarcasm.

"Or rather, we _are_ our normal selves."

"Save they don't know."

"Point is made."

They let the others' chatter drift on for a few moments, letting wild imaginations take their frantic courses, wondering what improbable conceptions were coming and going like the wind.

"Do you think we should put an end to it?"

"None of it is true."

"That's _exactly_ the reason why we _should_."

"Since when did you care?"

"I've _always_ cared. And so do you."

"More than we've ever admitted."

"Yes."

            He had to ask, but that didn't make asking all the more easier for Lyserg.

Millie was entertaining Red with a cheerful song. Though not as addicted as Drake was, the young X-Laws did like anime. As already previously mentioned, she was a fan of handsome ZAFT ace pilot Athrun Zara from _Gundam__ Seed_. The song was from one of her favorites, _Steel Angel Kurumi._ Haro did a pretty good job in following its mistress' lead, singing credibly enough for a toy prone to silly chirping. But it was Millie who carried the music and the song, Millie who gave it life.

_Kiss shite mezmete onna no ko-tte uki uki (uki uki)__HONKI de suki __nara__ tamerawanai de ne__Koi__ wa byun byun ikou yo__Anata__ no tame __nara__ hi no naka datte atsukunai (atsukunai)__Koori no kuni demo mizugi de ikeru yo__Uchuu__ datte OK__Anshin__ shite ne hotto shite ne__Itsudemo__ egao de iru kara__Futatsu__ no mune no fukurami no naka__OTONA no HAATO ga aru kara_

_Kiss kara hajimaru Miracle!_

_Nachuraru__ sumairu wandafuru!_

_Awateru__ korogaru ukareru yume miru_

_Mi-ra-ku-ru-mi! _

_Mi-ra-ku-ru-mi!_

             "Hey," he greeted her. "Millie."

"Lyserg."

"You okay?"

"Yeah. You?"

"Me, too."

They tried smiling at each other, tried to feel welcome with each other despite last night.

"You know the interesting thing about the song?" She spoke in a rush, as if hurrying to get the words and the feelings they conveyed quickly out of her body. "The lyric _Mi-ra-ku-ru-mi_? It stands for several things at once. Would you like to know what they are, Lyserg?"

"Sure."

"Well, _Mi-ra-ku-ru-mi_ can be translated literally as _mira__ kurumi_, 'Look, it's Kurumi'. But it can also stand for the English words 'Miracle me', which it sort of sounds like. It's a pun, you see; a play with words."

She smiled at him shyly.

"Miracle me, isn't it? I'm miraculous."

Lyserg swallowed his hesitation and went on with what he had to say. "The way you are right now, Millie–"

"I know." She shook her head at his somewhat astonished look. "I must be making you guys wonder, aren't I?"

"Yes…"

"That's funny, because _onee-chan_ once told me the very same thing about her. How she made the guys –the old X-Laws– wonder about her, the way she acted, the way she simply was. She made them wonder, all right. She probably made them worry, too."

"Meene is a good person," Lyserg affirmed solidly.

"I know, and that's what's funny. She's a good person, and yet at the same time I know she did some very bad things. How could a good person do such bad things, you wonder?"

"She did those things to protect other people. She did them because they needed to be done, and only she could do it."

"Two wrongs don't make a right."

"Sometimes, it just does."

"Does it matter?" Millie smiled. "We can do all sorts of things in our lives, but we ourselves won't change. Good or bad or neutral, it's all a matter of perception. It's only we who decide what we are, we who choose and act as we wish. Not God or angels or devils or anything else can make us; they can show the way, but we must walk it.

"Only we can remake ourselves," she finished softly. "Only we can."

It was Eriol who called them, then.

"It's time."

            It was time.

The X-Laws stood in the middle of the pentagram, at the very nexus of the sigil of sorcery drawn earlier by Eriol. Before the seven _Soldados_ was the azure-haired sorcerer himself, Tomoyo held closely at his side, friends Syaoran and Sakura to his left. Behind them were Yukito, Nakuru, Kero-_chan_ and Suppi– or rather, Yue, Ruby Moon, Keroberos and Spinel Sun, the last four transformed into the true forms. Beside the last were Lavi and Eah. Mizuki was at the door to forestall anyone who might see the spell being cast.

"Are you ready?"

There was no real need for Eriol to ask that, only a rhetoric comfort for tradition's sake. But the intentions were well-meant– and the implications vast. Once the answer was given, once the signal was approved, there would be no turning back. They were committed.

Lyserg nodded.

Eah flashed his buddy a thumbs up. Lyserg had to grin at that,

"_Ingat__!_ Go get 'em, '_tol__! 'Wag kalimutan ang pasalubong ko, a!"_

_"Oo,_ I'll bring you some, don't worry!"

"Take care," Tomoyo bid them. "Be careful, and may you find Jeanne and all of you be safe and sound returned to us."

Even Eriol himself smiled faintly. "Good luck, Lyserg. Good luck, X-Laws."

"Thank you."

Then Lyserg and all the others got ready.

It was time, indeed.

"Now," Eriol said.

Sakura went first, the opening words of the chant to trigger her talisman already on her lips. "Key that uses the power of the stars, reveal your true self. I, Sakura, the one who has formed the contract with you, command you so."

Her emerald eyes snapped open even as she held the magical key in her outstretched cupped hands. "RELEASE!"

The key transformed into its true form, a baton with white wings flanking the golden star that was its emblem and centerpiece. Firmly Sakura grasped it with one hand, twirling the baton expertly and effortlessly as she revealed the Cards in her hands.

Sorcerers had long kept their existence hidden from the world in order to preserve their identities and way of life from both being changed by the world without and from altering the lives of those outside their own. This step was crucial to maintaining that secrecy.

"Illusion! Envelop this place in a semblance of normalcy and keep prying eyes from seeing what we summon!"

The entire Manor was wrapped in the protection of Illusion. If people would look at it, they would see it as it normally appears. The magical curtain kept hidden the otherwise easily visible spell they would next use.

In Sakura's hands, Time and Return appeared. It was time to cast the Gate spell.

"Key that uses the power of the darkness, reveal your true self." That was Eriol and his own magic, timing his warning for everyone's sake, preparing all for what would follow. "I, Hiiragizawa Eriol, the one who has created you, command you so. Release!

"Sakura, now!"

Time and Return shone brightly, even as the lines of the pentagram inscribed within the circle of power also flared to life, their white outlines rippling with energy. In Eriol's hands the Staff of Clow Read hummed, its wielder focusing his half of his previous self's power into the spell even as Tomoyo's voice rose through the crescendo of sorcery to set the rhythm this power would take, even as Sakura and Syaoran and all the rest contributed their own energies. Even Lavi and Eah helped in a way, urging X-Laws and sorcerers and even Cards with supportive cheers, praying that all go well for their friends.

Time seemed to both stand still and rush past them at the same time. It was an eerie feeling to think they seemed to be moving even thought they knew they stood stock still where they were. Hands found their neighbors and held on, finding reassurance in the warmth and presence. Marco had Rune's firmly in his, unconsciously Vincent's and Drake's met together, Millie held both Lyserg and Maestro as at her feet Red leaned upon her.

"Steady!" they heard Eriol pronounce through the storm of magic, the young man's voice now firm and awesome, Clow Read come once more. "Steady! Steady a while longer… NOW!"

Beneath their feet, a mirror sheen surface materialized, the sigil of sorcerers clearly engraved upon it, the sign they were waiting for. As it came alive, Return flared brighter than all and leapt into the sky, blazing a path past the clouds, into the heavens and the space beyond. The X-Laws turned into light and soared quickly after the Card.

The light died away. The sigil faded into nothingness. Silence returned.

The spell was done.

The die had been cast.

The X-Laws were on their own and in the hands of God.

Exhausted, Tomoyo sagged against her fiancé, even as Sakura and Syaoran managed to keep on their feet with each other's help. Both Suppi and Keroberos were down, and the drained Nakuru very nearly collapsed into the equally worn out Yue/Yukito's arms. Even Eriol, the most powerful of the group, was tired beyond measure like he had never been before.

Eah started a hesitant applause. "_Galeng__.__ Nagawa ninyo."_

For a long while, no one replied or reacted to that. Tomoyo was the first to break the silence.

"Did it work?"

The fateful question one must ask but no one really wants to ask.

"It did." Eriol wearily nodded at the fact. "We've done what we can for them."

"But do you think we've done the right thing?"

He let out a sigh. Of what emotion it was, only Tomoyo knew, and she would not tell.

"Only Time and Fate will tell. Only they, and only when they choose to."

            She made Kaho-_sensei_ uneasy.

And not just anybody can unnerve Kaho Mizuki.

She had come out of the thin air, it seemed, materialized merely to ring the bell at the door. As planned, Mizuki answered the gate.

The woman looked pretty ordinary enough, with wheat-tan bangs and hair that hadn't seen a barber in some time. Her clothes were neither old nor new, grey-white fitting her comfortably. There was a slight militarily-inclined aura to her, and an even more indistinct touch of something observers would have a hard time describing. Though not supermodel beautiful, her face possessed its own special pleasance and frank charisma. She seemed somewhat familiar, but then again she could be anyone.

All in all, she was very much normal.

That was part of what made Mizuki uneasy.

Sometimes, what people seemed to be was exactly what they were really _not_.

"I'm looking for a man named Marco Innocenzo Testarossa. I've heard he was here."

Damage control was too late and futile in any case. This woman knew about the X-Laws. She was up to something. And it didn't seem to be a nice thing she was up to.

Mizuki had intentionally made the visitor wait, even planning to tell her off for a while, maybe ask to just come back a few hours later, anything to keep her away until Eriol and the others were finished.

Then the Gate spell burst into life.

It just had to be pure chance that the woman's gaze fell upon the very spot where the spell was cast. At least, that was what Mizuki was telling herself, what she was trying to make herself believe. Illusion shielded the Manor and everything that happened within from the sight of ordinary people outside, a veil of secrecy that no technology or unaided vision and senses could penetrate. No one could see what was happening there.

No one, that is, save for those blessed with the sight to see such.

Mizuki was one.

And so was this woman, too, it seemed.

She smiled very faintly, both at the spell and at her opposite number's consternation.

"Sorcerers," murmured the woman softly yet keenly.

She waited for Mizuki to let her inside.

That reaction, and the way this woman held herself and merely the fact that she _was_, made Kaho-_sensei_ **_very_** uneasy.

            The peaceful summer sky of New Zealand was parted by the silent thunderbolt of light that was Return, plunging down to the earth and bringing to reality in this end universe the Gate spell. Through the fading sigil and the dissipating light, the X-Laws emerged, slightly dazed but unscathed and their ranks complete.

Beneath and around them, the Gate died away. Return hovered briefly before them before it lost its sheen and went dormant. Lyserg caught it and held it close to him, their only way to get home.

They had made it through to the world they sought.

The X-Laws were all on their own now.

But they weren't as alone as they hoped to be, not by a long shot.

She was waiting for them already. The girl dressed in black, a delighted beamy smile on her handsome face, the strange mysterious girl who started it all.

Rione Asuka Hunter.

"Mister Diethyl, welcome back. We've missed you."

Lyserg Diethyl's guarded reply was:

"Where is Jeanne-_chan_?"

(On a side note, Marco did not go berserk and try tearing off Lyserg's head. He merely made a mental note to remind the boy just who he was talking about and that he should always show respect for her, especially in the way he called her. After all, Lyserg was the team leader now. He deserved some measure of deference, even from Marco and even despite his being very liberal with affectionate nicknames for Jeanne.)

Rione grinned pleasantly: "Right here."

She stepped aside with a flourish.

Lyserg was speechless.

"Hello, Lyserg," greeted Jeanne D'Arc, the girl who was once the Iron Maiden.

            It was a few minutes later that Mizuki arrived, accompanied by a complete stranger who nevertheless seemed to know much about her and the others.

The sorcerers had retired to the garden in order to take a break. Tomoyo was resting against Eriol, asleep, regaining her strength in her peaceful nap. Her cousin Sakura had followed suit, her auburn-crowned head lain upon the somnolent Syaoran's lap for a quick siesta. Nakuru and Yukito were drowsily leaning against each other, trying but failing to keep awake, slipping in and out of dream and real worlds alternately. Suppi and Keroberos had already given up on such a struggle; back to their diminutive forms again, the two were audibly snoring from where they lay. It was up to Lavi and Eah, therefore, to try and help out by offering some cake and tea.

Eriol was very well awake despite his strenuous exertion just earlier. He caught sight of the woman and almost stood up in surprise, he was sure he recognized her– no, he _did_ recognize her and knew she shouldn't be here by the fact that she was–

"Good morning, Hiiragizawa-_kun,_" affably greeted the stranger. "Or should I say, Sir Clow Read?"

Mizuki looked at her, then at the affected Eriol, and then she worried anew.

"Please don't be surprised to see me, and don't ask me how I'm here. I don't know myself," the woman quickly admitted, "And I'm still trying to figure things out."

"You…" Disbelief marked his eyes for a fleeting second, a rarity of a response from the usually imperturbable sorcerer reincarnate. "You're–"

"–Myself and not myself, all at the same time, yes, but I'd rather not talk about it. Are Sir Testarossa– excuse me, I meant: Are Marco and the others here? The X-Laws, I mean?"

"They've left." Her eyes opening now, Tomoyo stirred herself awake, coming to face this intruder with her sincere serenity. "Only a while ago; you just missed them. They might not be back for a while."

She looked rather disappointed, but took it all in stride and seemed even– hopeful? Happy? Whatever it was, she was the unexpected happened to them, the quirk of Fate that She throws into her tapestry that is this world and this life.

The woman caught the curious looks her way and shrugged. "Then I will wait. I've waited a year for this; a while longer means nothing to me."

So saying, she sat down on a chair and gave them as relaxed a smile she could summon for someone so recently come back as she was.

And that made everyone worry.

                                                                                                                                                                             **_Itutuloy_****_…_**

**Sheo's**** Notes:** "One… more…" – Jacky Chan, _Shanghai Knights_

            The eleventh chapter is done and posted now. Only one last chapter remains (or, if I feel like putting an epilogue as I usually am wont to do, one chapter and one epilogue remain.) Four days of working this makes me think that I might just finish this before classes start. Now _that_ would be something to aim for.

            This chapter focuses more on the _Card Captor_ people. It's also sort of a teaser for my planned Eriol-Tomoyo/ET fan fiction, revealing the end results of that particular story early in order to whet curiosities and attract potential readers. Maybe by July or August 2004, I'd start posting it (and while I'm at it, I'll also have to do two other fan fiction simultaneously; I've got my hands full!)

            The song _Kiss Kara Hajimaru Miracle_ (Kiss That Started A Miracle) is from _Steel Angel Kurumi._ The translation of the quoted lyrics is as follows:

_"A kiss can wake a girl" you said, and it makes me happy. (so happy)__If you're serious about love, you can't hesitate...__Love will leave you if you do!__I would walk through fire for you... (just for you)__Or go to a freezing country in a bathing suit!__Even outer space is OK!__Aren't you relieved? Are the burdens all gone?__I always want you to smile.__Something will swell up in our chests...__And it'll sound like a heart._

_There is a miracle that started from a kiss...__It's natural, it smiles and it's wonderful...__It's confused and it's tumbling down, yet it still looks like a dream...__Look, it's Kurumi!_ (Alternative: _Miracle me!_) 

_  Look, it's Kurumi!_ (Alternative: _Miracle me!_) 

            Thanks a lot to Nagumo, to whom this chapter is dedicated. Adopting ideas from your story and coming out with developments moved by your ideas, I've come up with a new _bitin_ na ending that should really make everyone who reads it demand that I continue. I'm sure of it, trust me. It'll be really good.

            And no, Fluff Inc, it is still **_not_** Lavi-Eah. Within next week, I should be able to write the prologue of that original story I promised you. You'll finally know who Eah is paired with. Reminder _lang_:_ 'Wag kang iiyak masyado, ah? Malungkot kasi, e…___

            As to this mysterious woman? We will know soon enough who she is. (Hint: Please see the previous on Nagumo. It might just give you a clue. And if you have any guesses what it is, please keep it to yourselves. You can e-mail me privately if you really want to know. )

            Until then, read and review! _Domou__ arigatou! Maraming salamat sa inyong pagtangkilik!___


	13. The Iron Maiden And Her Dowser Knight

**Disclaimer:** _Alam__ na nating lahat kung ano dapat ang nakasulat rito._ Song excerpts are from _Sore Ga Ai Deshou_ of _Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu_.

**Previously, on "The Romancers"...******

            This chapter is dedicated to all Shaman King fans: The readers and writers and all others out there. By all our combined efforts in following our favorite ManKin, this story comes forth as one of our labors' fruits.

**The Romancers**

**Set One: Shaman King**

**By: Sheo Darren**

**Iron Maiden and Dowser Knight**

**Chapter Twelve: The Iron Maiden And Her Dowser Knight**

            "Hello, Lyserg," greeted Jeanne D'Arc, the girl who was once the Iron Maiden.

Lyserg was stunned into speechlessness and inaction despite himself.

Jeanne looked exactly the same…

And yet she was so different from before.

Her clothes bore almost exact resemblance to her Iron Maiden costume, but with many striking differences. A sky-blue bandanna tied and shaped to look like her battle uniform's headdress adorned her head purposefully and kept her luxuriously thick mane of silver-grey hair in check, its ends tied up beneath her chin and in whole framing her heart-shaped face as a crown would its bearer. The soft cotton blue sundress that clung to her slim form almost like a second skin lacked the iron bosses and metallic trappings of the latter, and there was a real knee-long skirt hem so unlike the rather leotard-like appearance of the old one. Small slippers completed the lovely image of the equally lovely girl who stood before him now, dreamlike in quality yet oh so real.

She was as beautiful as ever, her childlike face so soft and peaceful. There was a splash of color upon her fair features, tints of red upon her cheeks: Jeanne was blushing slightly.

And her eyes…

They were still the same eyes that had so entranced him the first time he had seen them outside her torturous prison –and continue to do so even up to this very moment–, orbs the color of deep ripe cherries, eyes that seemed so serene and yet so imperious, eyes that spoke of having seen much of the world's best and worst.

But the look in them was incredibly different from before– and yet it was familiar.

The look in her eyes was just like the one borne by Daidouji Tomoyo: One at peace with herself and the world.

The nightmares were gone.

Jeanne was free at last.

And that made Lyserg happy.

            All the X-Laws were so astounded at the sheer ordinariness of the situation that none of them –even Rune or Marco or Maestro– could make themselves move or do anything. Even Red stopped bouncing around as it was wont to, even the Haro that is was.

It was Jeanne who smiled at them all, but most especially at a certain young green-haired green-eyed dowser. And then her smile went to include him and _only_ him to bask in its radiance.

"Diethly-_kun_? Lyserg?"

"_H-Hai, _Jeanne_-chan?"___

He said it reflexively, without really thinking of it or planning to say it– but he did remember she liked to be called that. Indeed, her smile became brighter, making him forget about anything or anyone else but her.

            Aside a vein throbbed just briefly on Marco's forehead, but Rune stepped into the man's field of vision, her look and presence enough to deter him from the reactionary thoughts he was then entertaining about their great leader and _his_ daughter's all-too-affectionate terminology. He _did_ catch Rione grinning foxily at him –and at Rune as well, who along with Marco was somewhat disturbed by the Filipina's open show of amusement aimed at them.

_What the hell is that supposed to mean?_

            "Jeanne-_chan_?"

She smiled further at him– and then totally unlike herself, Jeanne D'Arc held her hands out wide and beckoningly to a very startled Lyserg, and asked very mischievously:

"Aren't you going to greet me, Lyserg-_kun_?"

He almost broke into tears at the flood of happiness that overwhelmed him. No longer was his world dark and consumed by vendetta; no longer was hers haunted by a nightmare that wasn't hers. They were back in the light, back into the world of life as it was always meant to be.

He didn't cry or scream or yell out his happiness, did none of those things that people usually do out of sheer joy.

Lyserg simply hugged Jeanne in his arms very tightly.

"Is this greeting enough for you, Jeanne-_chan_?" he asked her very softly and very happily.

She smiled up at him and said, "More than enough, Lyserg. More than enough…"

He smiled back, and then kissed her full on the lips.

Drake immediately broke into a cheer, which Haro took up spontaneously. Vincent and even Maestro joined it; though the former looked disappointed at the lack of action, the latter was for once quite taken with emotion.

But Marco–

"Marco?"

That was Rune asking, in case you wondered.

The great Roman lion, former leader of the X-Laws, guardian of Jeanne D'Arc, feared foe of all who proclaimed themselves fans of Jeanne-Lyserg (or any other pairing that could be thought of, but the author strongly believes and follows only one pairing: Lyserg-Jeanne, of course) Was stock still. His eyes could not be seen at all because of a trick of the light falling on his glasses, a glare that hid whatever warning sign of his temper or reaction was. There was

"Marco?"

Rune expected an explosion of rage, a volcanic eruption of emotion on the scale of Mount St. Helens or Pinatubo or Krakatoa, a wave of protest against the way Lyserg and Jeanne were lost in love and each other all of a sudden.

What she could never have predicted was Marco suddenly breaking into very unmanly sobbing and crying– of a happy nature, despite himself and his old inclinations to wring a certain boy's neck.

And he poured it all out on a very startled Rune's shoulder, too.

"Marco?!"

"My lovely darling Jeanne is all grown up now! And she's leaving me all for another man! Leaving me alone to waste away in my declining years of dotage! By God, Rune, I can't bear it!"

To those who looked –but only two did out of the nine souls and one Haro there– they would have seen a memorable sight: The very first time Rune Minor blushed.

Yet despite her blush and embarrassment –reactions so unlike her– she found her hands slipping around Marco's back, patting him consolingly like a loving parent would an unhappy child, murmuring soft reassurance to him.

"It's okay, Marco. I'm here. I'll always be here."

She wondered if she really heard him say, "I know…"

Millie watched the two senior X-Laws' scene, and then looked back to where Lyserg and Jeanne were still kissing, and then thought of herself standing so alone.

Somehow, she wasn't envious or unhappy of any of them.

Somehow, she was content.

She caught sight of Rione Asuka Hunter, then, the Romancer flashing a smile she thought she'd seen before. Millie remembered someone who sometimes smiled exactly the way the dark-haired girl did: Her late sister, Meene.

"So ends the story of a boy and a girl so much in love and yet who denied it until the end came. So ends their story in how it began: In love."

She didn't mean Jeanne or Lyserg, of course.

Rione had been after Rune and Marco all along.

Understanding, Millie smiled at that. She finished the thought:

"And so ends the story of the iron maiden and her dowser knight…"

                                                                                                                                                                             **_Katapusan_****__**

_Tatoeba__ ne_

_Namida__ ga koboreru hi ni ha_

_Sono__ senaka wo_

_Hitorijime__ shitai kedo_

_Yashisa__ ha tokidoki_

_Zankoku__ dakara_

_Motomeru__ hodo_

_Kotae__ wo miushinau_

_Ameagari__ no machi_

_Niji__ ga mieru naka_

_Ima__ arukidasuwo_

_Nani__ ka ga hajimaru_

_Kimi__ ga iru kara_

_Asu__ ga aru kara_

_Hitorikiri__ ji kite yukenai kara_

_Konna__ ni chikaku ni kanjiru_

_Sore ga, ai deshou_

_Namida__ no kazu no itami wo_

_Kimi__ ha shitteru kara_

_Sukitooru__ sono me no naka ni_

_Tashika__ na imi wo sagashite_

_Egao__ mitsuketai_

**Sheo's**** Notes**

"Whoa-ho!... Everyone, come along with me! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ho ho ho…"

                                                                                                                      –Lee Myung-Jin

            _Ang__ iksi, ano?_ Please don't kill me: There's still the epilogue for next week, the prelude to _Iron Maiden and Dowser Knight_'s sequel. I have to set some things right, you know…

            The reason why this chapter is so short: That's it. This is the final chapter. _Tapos__.___

            It's not much… but I hope you enjoyed it for what it is, Fluff, Kitsune, Setsumi, s91, Person and all the others…

            Epilogue coming soon– then, another chapter, another arc…

            Another pair of targets! (YohMari _kaya_? I'm sure I can mess the usual pairings up…)

            Thanks a lot for reading and reviewing.


	14. Towards The Next Arc

**Disclaimer:** The usual. Song is _Anna ni issho datta no ni_ from Gundam Seed. Lines are quoted from _The Ashes of Eden_, also used in Chapter Ten earlier.

**Previously, on "The Romancers"...******

**Sheo: **_"At iyon na nga. _Jeanne and Lyserg live happily ever after– and so with Marco and Rune."

**Setsumi/Syaoran/Apple/Fluff:_"__Ay_**_. Yun na? Tapos na yung kwento?"_

**Sheo: **_"Oy, hindi pa, a._ _May _epilogue_ na, may_ sequel _pa._"

**Setsumi/Syaoran/Apple/Fluff:**_ "Talaga? Yehey!"_

**Person:** "Please translate what you said, I can't understand Tagalog…"

**The Romancers**

**Set One: Shaman King**

**By: Sheo Darren**

**Iron Maiden and Dowser Knight**

**Epilogue: The Next Arc Beckons…**

            Rione Asuka Hunter was troubled.

She was an emotional person by nature. The Filipina was one of those people who just can't help but say their feelings out loud, as if holding back on them might hurt far worse that whatever consequence of admitting so could. Always wanting to share her thoughts and emotions and opinions knowing that they'd help others feel better easy, she was indeed like a little child, what with her openly sunny disposition and happy-go-lucky thoughtfulness. She couldn't lie worth a damn and couldn't hide anything. Her line of work not only highlighted her persona, it also amplified it. She was the perfect big sister/guidance counselor/best friend, and thus the perfect Romancer.

But some things weren't meant to be known so easily to others.

Some things just had to be hidden.

Fortunately her cell phone was of a rugged design. Thus, it wasn't damaged by the bumps it took when it slipped away from her suddenly nerveless fingers and fell onto the sandy beach shore. It was overly dramatic but totally unintended and honestly unexpected. The shock of it all was just too much.

Someone's voice could be faintly heard from the phone. The other party seemed to be calling her, asking what was wrong or was she still there or whatever. Slowly she bent down and picked it up and held it up to her head again.

"_Sumenasai__._Go ahead, _ituloy__ mo lang, _please."__

She seemed so mechanical in her actions and speech, so unlike her vibrant self. She was staring off out into unlimited space again, the thousand yard stare. The voice on the other side –they didn't know who it was, but the X-Laws had a fairly good idea of what he or she was thinking; they themselves were going through it, too– was puzzled and worried, maybe asking her what was wrong. Rione tried chuckling but her heart wasn't into it, she just couldn't do it, her face and tone and actions told it out loud.

"_Oo__.__ Oo, _I understand. _Oo__, mag-iingat ako.__ Kayo rin. Sige, paalam na. Babay."_

As the hand that bore it wavered away from her, the phone went dead.

Rione was dead to the world.

"Kite…"

            "Rione?"

She didn't reply or respond in any way towards the well-meant query, just stood there still and quiet like a statue–, no, more like the Beefeater guards standing watchful attention at Buckingham Palace, those imposing riflemen in the bright red coats and tall bearskin hats whose tradition went back to Napoleonic times, where their company defeated the legendary French Grenadiers and thus won the eternal honor to wear their vanquished foes' headgear. The way they'd stand still for hours in rain or snow or sunlight, utterly unmindful of everything around them –or at least that's what most people think, for they were alert as bloodhounds on the prowl–, the only signs of life in them being their regular pattern of twirling and tossing their rifles every so and so, otherwise being as lifelessly inhuman as any human being can.

But it wasn't that way with her. You knew she was alive. You knew she was human. It just was much more so with her. Where those soldiers didn't seem human at all, Rione was far more human in the way she was seemed so helpless and forlorn. You remember that she was alive and mortal and had feelings that could be hurt despite her invincible power, not _despite_ of herself but **_because_** of herself.

            _ "A long time ago, he was a starship captain. And starship captains think they're invincible."_

            _ "Why, James?"_

            _ "They have to be. It's their job."_

            She was a Romancer.

And all Romancers are human, even the ones who aren't human at all.

They just have to be.

They have to be.

            "Rione?"

She looked at her at last, looked at the girl she had just helped regain her own person with saddened eyes whose owner's heart was lost within a dark unhappiness as black as their pupils. She wondered if some of her own humanity had been lost in that generous act, wondered if it was now resident with the fair-haired girl with cherry-red eyes in sky blue. If so, she wished that misplaced part of her to be happy and well in its new home despite her self.

In that, she was still herself.

Rione was still herself despite her self…

She smiled sadly, that same smile the green-haired dowser boy had seen before when she had first taken her away from him, that smile of someone pained to do what she had to do– but knew that she must do it, no one else capable of doing so, and knew it was for the best. Her smile was known to the ash-blonde girl who was herself afflicted with the same sort of unrequited pain through love; her smile was known to her 'targets', the pale woman in black and the blonde man with glasses, for they themselves had known it and done so. Her smile was known to all the others because it was something that touched their very hearts and souls, something they had all gone through before, something familiar and welcome despite its sadness.

In that smile, she was them, and they were her.

They were no longer strangers.

Like all who have gone through the same kind of suffering together, they were now friends, all of them.

"I have to go, Jeanne," she said quietly. "I just have to."

_For the Romancers…___

_For myself…___

_For him…___

And Iron Maiden Jeanne D' Arc bowed her head in understanding, and she went over to her friend and held the latter girl's sun-browned hands in her own pale ones, her touch and presence telling all there needed to be told far better than words could ever do.

"Be careful, Rione."

She smiled again.

"Be happy, Jeanne."

And then she let go of her and stepped back even as her friend did the same. The Romancer gave them all one last smile, her eyes lingering upon Jeanne and Lyserg, Drake and Vincent, even on Maestro, Rune and Marco, and finally on Millie.

"Please, take care of Red for me."

The X-Laws girl nodded, but seemed like she wanted to say something. Rione waited expectantly.

"We used to have so much together," softly whispered Millie at last, her words lingering like the dying light at sunset, "But now the dusk is already a different shade."

For a while there was silence.

"We used to have so much together," answered Rione, "But I can't get by on just one word. Hurry and go; your time is now."

"We used to have so much together…"

"…But now the dusk is already of a different shade."

"At least," both girls murmured as if in song, "At least I can sleep quietly in the moonlight."

They both smiled.

In a way, they were the most alike of them all. They both loved, and yet their love could not love them back.

_But it was okay_, they decided both. _It was okay._

Taking one last deep breath, she bent down on one knee as if genuflecting –and perhaps she was, in a sense– and then her legs kicked out from beneath her and she was up flying into the air as if borne by a unlimited storm of wind, hurtling upwards like a rocket but far faster than any could be ever made, her 'Superman thing' in full magnitude.

And as she flew, Rione found that she was crying.

            They watched her vanish into the sky, watched her until even the faintest speck of her was gone.

And yet, to use a saying beloved of the young man who wrote these chronicles and many others beside, "But we never leave for good. We never do."

_We never do._

Lyserg held the Sakura Card in his hand.

"Take us home, Return."

There was a flash of light, and then there was nothing.

_Anna ni issho datta no ni_

_Yuugure__ wa mou chigau iro_

_Arifureta__ yasashisa wa kimi wo_

_Toozakeru__ dake_

_Tsumetaku__ kimi sutte kokoro wa_

_Samayou__ bakari_

_Sonna__ kakko warusa ga_

_Ikuru__ to iu koto __nara___

_Samuzora__ no shita_

_Me wo tojite iyou_

_Anna ni issho datta no ni_

_Kotoba__ hitotsu tooranai_

_Kasoku__ shite ikuse naka ni ima wa_

_Anna ni issho datta no ni_

_Yuugure__ wa mou chigau iro_

_Semete__ kono tsuki akari no shita de_

_Shizuka__ na nemuri wo_

            Much to most normal people's dismay but to Eriol and Tomoyo's amusement and the occasional distant uncaring glance of a third person, Eah Osborn had been pretty much his usual crazy self for the whole morning and much of the afternoon. He had pointed his AK at most everyone save Lavi, Eriol and Tomoyo; for people who especially annoyed him –and who were, in turn, even more annoyed _of_ him–, at least twice, and for the person mentioned in the first part of this paragraph, perhaps about a dozen times. He had blustered and threatened and cackled and run around like a proverbial headless chicken, albeit this one was worse off than the others in that it had a machine gun handy. All the time, he was promising a vengefully painful and prolonged death by torture for Fluff Inc., a company none of the others had heard of before but which –actually, whom, as Lavi explained later– seemed to have earned Eah's especial ire. Even Lavi's wrench couldn't put him down for long.

But the navigator girl was nothing if resourceful, and it's said that sheer aggravation is the spring for inspiration. Lavi 'absently' mentioned that the Orky–

"Argh! It is not 'Orky', Nav! It's Orca! Orca Transport!"

–correction; the Orca needed a maintenance check. Very concerned for his aircraft –Eah loved it more than anything or anyone in the world, and that includes Lavi, Fluff-_chan__,_ despite your best efforts – the Filipino pilot had immediately went about the MV-22 looking for trouble. Thus nearly everyone had figuratively fallen at Lavi's feet in worship for sparing them Eah for perhaps an hour or so (it takes several days, actually, a fact they were to praise her for much more later on).

Anyway, it was during his maintenance checking that Eah suddenly felt an eldritch current in the air. The _Haribon__ Agila_ had one of the most enviable of abilities a pilot or a sailor could ever have: The ability to actually detect the most subtle differences in the air and react to them accordingly. It was his masterful judgment on winds and weather that had earned him fame on all his aerial runs.

Even before all the sorcerers felt the magical surge, Eah was yelling out aloud as he ran towards them all.

"Yeehaah! '_Andito__ na sila!"___

The sigil of sorcery was already forming even as he ran, and then the clouds above parted as Return went through them, a beam of laser-like light that struck the garden grounds with a silent thunderclap. Everyone dropped what they were doing –in Nakuru's case, the water balloon she was planning to throw at Yukito landed on poor Suppi instead, drenching the black cat and Keroberos who was unfortunately too close to dodge– and gathered towards the spot, watching the figures materialize with expectations of hope and dread.

Eah slung his AK around one shoulder even as he grinned widely, his enthusiasm that of a young kid who's about to get the biggest Christmas present ever from Santa Claus (in whom the pilot was an unabashedly fervent believer). At his side was Lavi, surprisingly as hopeful as her friend was.

Return sailed into Sakura's arms, but not before buzzing Li just for the fun of it. Cards need to unwind, too, and the sour-looking Chinese sorcerer was just too tempting a target to ignore. Sakura scolded her naughty Card but was smiling. An elbow nudge reminded Li to do the same.

The thoroughly soaked Suppi and Kero-_chan_ were bawling at Nakuru. The Moon Guardian pointedly ignored them, jostling Yukito aside for a better view. The last good-naturedly stepped aside, but he did notice his younger 'sibling' squeezing his arm in excitement.

Myzuki stood alone as always, the only one with a troubled expression, and it was not due to the fact that she was alone.

And as always, Tomoyo was with Eriol, their hands intertwined as tightly as their hearts and hopes. One believed in the best; one hoped for the best. Both were together without a match in the world.

The glare from the Gate spell vanished.

Instead of the seven who had struck out on the epic adventure–

Instead of seven, there were _eight_.

The grin Lyserg Diethyl gave the assembly was one of flourish and immense happiness.

"Ladies, gentlemen and Sun Guardians, I have the great honor to present the Iron Maiden of the X-Laws herself." He guided her forward towards them, their hands held as tight as Tomoyo and Eriol's. "May I present Miss Jeanne D'Arc."

Despite Lavi's momentary glance of disapproval –she had to grin, even as she held her ears protectively against the sheer shocking sound of it and ducked beneath the fist thrust up above her head– the whoop of joy Eah released was echoed by more reserved but no less joyful cheers and applause.

Tomoyo and Jeanne held hands in greeting and marveled at each other. "I feel like I've known you all my life, Jeanne," the dark-haired girl told her fair-haired counterpart, "Even though this is the first time we've met in person."

"The same goes for me as well, I have to confess," Jeanne replied. Tomoyo smiled back dotingly.

"You know," muttered Vincent to Drake, "They do sort of look related, too, like distant cousins or something."

Nearby, Eah was begging Lyserg for his _pasalubong__._ The Brit lad laughed sheepishly before admitting, "We didn't get much time to shop, so I didn't get any for you. Sorry, Eah."

The poor guy stared at him with eyes that were reminiscent of a puppy dog, and then Eah suddenly bawled "_Wawa__ ako!"_ and then turned into a pouting but cute super-deformed/_chibi_ plushie toy version of his self, like Amano Ginji does sometimes in _Getbackers_. A drop of perspiration hung on Lyserg's forehead at that, even as Millie went "_Kawaaii__!"_ and picked up Chibi-Eah– or tried to pick him up, as Red bumped Chibi-Eah aside and Chibi-Eah retaliated by trying to gobble the Haro up in just one chomp. Then both Millie and Lyserg had sweat-drops on their foreheads now.

Luckily for Red, Lavi caught the plushie _Haribon__ Agila_ by the nape of his collar. Chibi Eah struggled and howled and wailed to be let to massacre Red, but that was before Lavi gave him a great big hug and squeezed all the wind –not to mention the fight and almost the very life– out of him. With the now-limp Chibi Eah comfortably restrained in her arms like a kid would hold her favorite stuffed toy close to her (and Fluff-_chan_ dying in envy of her at that ), Lavi seemed quite younger than she was and looked rather cuter, too.

Her somewhat worried glance, however, told a different story.

"What's wrong, Lavi?"

"Lyserg, we've got trouble."

And then he caught sight of the woman.

She had been watching them ever since they'd arrived, watched them and their friends reunite. She watched the girl she once called her mistress, saw the newfound happiness and humanity in her and was happy for her. She looked upon the new faces with a bit of interest and perhaps some doubts; for her, the X-Laws would always be Porf and Larch and Venstar and Cebin and Marco and Lyserg–

–And herself, of course.

Marco stared.

Rune froze.

And Lyserg and Millie both gasped.

            She made her usual letter-perfect touchdown, and as usual she should have been exhilarated by her rapid flight and the thrilling jump from one dimension to another. Yet as she slowed down to a halt she found herself lacking for extraneous thoughts aside from the one image so clearly imprinted on her mind– the only thing she found herself able to focus upon– that she wondered if she was still herself.

But of course she was.

She just felt different, that's all.

She stood up and looked around the place. It was a small park in the middle of the concrete jungle of Tokyo. Strangely enough for such a place, it was empty of people. There were only pigeons there, slate blue-gray mottled birds whose ancestors had migrated to the Orient long ago and flourished in their new environments so much that they seemed natives of this place already, more at home here than she herself was.

But this wasn't her home. Not this city or any other place in this country and not anywhere in America, though her name suggested it. But that wasn't her real name, and this was not her home. Her home was not so far away, separated from Japan by the expanse of the South China Sea (named so for its location south of China, which name the Chinese had used to justify their appropriation of the said waters), with nearly ninety million people all crammed into an archipelago of seven thousand islands.

That was her home, and yet it no longer was.

The pigeons all suddenly burst into slow flight at the approach of an intruder to the place and to her thoughts. She turned to face him, her thoughts a whirlwind, her terrified and confused and angry heart threatening to break free of her despite her best efforts.

"Miss Miranda. Surprised to see me?"

If nothing else, she had gotten much of her trademark lines from him. She'd learned so much from him, strove to emulate his every move and whole style, had followed him like a love-struck young girl all goggle-eyed and blushing like made– which she had been back then.

She had been in love with him.

But that was a long time ago.

That was a lifetime ago.

"Don't," he added.

Now?

They were enemies.

"Kite," Rione said.

The man named Kite smiled.

            "_Ohayou_, Lyserg-_kun_, Marco-_san,_ Rune-_san._Hey, Millie. It's been a while."

She smiled at all of them as if she knew them very well.

In fact, she did.

She was, after all, Meene.

                                                                                                                                           **_Itutuloy_****_ Sa Susunod Na Kuwento…_**


End file.
